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David Evans

Tired of counting their beans, many from Hong Kong's financial community have  started to cook them.

In a bid to spice-up their daily routine of number crunching, finance industry executives are opening bars, restaurants and take-away shops.

By day, Amanda Henricks is a risk manager with hedge fund firm Ward Ferry Management.

But by night the Australian is up to her elbows in chickens.

Ms Henricks, wife of Stuart Gulliver, group general manager of treasury and capital markets investment banking at HSBC, is a shareholder in Chicken On The Run.

The takeaway, which opened in January, is located next to the escalator above Caine Road.

According to Ms Henricks, partner Joy Bernasconi 'does all the hard work' and the third shareholder is a 'local entrepreneur'.

Mr Gulliver has no share in the business.

No stranger to mixing food and financial types, Ms Bernasconi used to be a corporate chef at Barclay's Capital in Sydney.

'And her brother is a banker,' Ms Henricks said.

Another banker with a thing for wine, curry and song is HSBC's Nick Bryan, head of custody and clearing.

Mr Bryan is reported to have steaks [sic] in Staunton's Wine Bar on Staunton Street, the Kathmandu restaurant next door, and the Chapter 3 bar on Hollywood Road.

ABN Amro's head of corporate finance Richard Orders is understood to have a share in the Wyndham Street restaurant Alibi.

Asked if she would ever swap the bucks for the beaks and work full-time in Chicken On The Run, Ms Henricks replied: 'I love my day job.'

Self-induced woes: Putting the blame for the SAR's blues firmly on its own shoulders is returning CLSA chief economist Jim Walker.

Jim Walker, or Dr Jim as he is better known, has been analysing the Asian market for the past four years from his home in Edinburgh.

Meeting the press for the first time yesterday since his return, Dr Jim said the territory's economic woes were self-induced.

'I'm not negative, the whole of Hong Kong is negative,' he pointed out.

However, Dr Jim admitted there was probably a good reason for all the long faces.

'It's just amazing to come back and sit in morning meetings and look at faces around the table,' he said.

'Mostly, I must admit, from gweilos who bought property in the last 12 months so maybe they've got a reason to be a bit depressed.'

Changing hands:  Citibank's purported purchase of an 8 per cent stake in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank could see executives from the United States banking giant treading on the hallowed ground once trodden by executives from rival banking giant HSBC.

Four years ago the Chinese bank moved into the former Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp headquarters located on the Bund.

The offices, built in 1923 were sold to Development Bank by the Shanghai government after it was requisitioned by the Chinese government in the 1940s.

Citibank taking up residence would see the building having changed hands from imperialist to communist to capitalist.

A lengthy affair:  Denying everything yesterday was Sun Media Group Holdings' deputy chief executive John Li.

After the media firm's annual general meeting Mr Li said shareholders were definitely happy, had not questioned the company's finances and on the whole everything was fine.

Mr Li was responding to enquiries regarding the unusually long meeting.

'Because of the backgrounds of our shareholders everything had to be translated into Cantonese, English and Putonghua,' he explained.

Graphic: whee22gbz



Steaking out bucks, beans and beaks