Some Hong Kong analysts and fund managers - especially mainlanders - are discovering the hard way that criticising Chinese companies can cause them problems inside their firms.
Tempers rose when a UBS Securities employee wrote a less than flattering report on Citic Pacific last month recommending investors take profits, say sources familiar with the disagreement.
At least one of the report's co-authors has left the firm since the report came out.
Another case involves the head of China research at CEF Securities, Wang Qi, who resigned on Tuesday. Last month, he criticised China Eastern during the firm's roadshow, embarrassing the airline chairman.
The circumstances surrounding the mainland-born researcher's situation have raised concerns among brokers.
Some bankers and fund managers have come under similar pressures. Many in the financial community have tales of a friend or colleague who has felt the heat of senior management pressuring them to tone down criticism of mainland firms.
