Enforced corporate governance training for directors of new listings in Hong Kong could lead to a wider improvement in corporate behaviour by mainland firms, according to the chairman of Beijing Capital Land, Liu Xiaoguang.
As the first mainland director to be honoured with a Director of the Year award from the Hong Kong Institute of Directors, Mr Liu said the mainland had a ways to go before hitting international standards.
'China only changed from being a planned economy to a market economy 20 years ago, while many western firms have been in business for hundreds of years. Chinese companies need time to catch up,' he said.
'When companies have to list and raise funds in Hong Kong, they have to adopt the disclosure and corporate governance standards to gain support from investors.'
Pushing for better training rather than more rules, Mr Liu said: 'It will not be very useful if the regulator introduces 100 new rules when directors do not know the details.'
An economist by background who worked for the Beijing municipal government, Mr Liu admitted to uneasiness when he first worked with independent directors at the time of the firm's listing in June.
