bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Ben Kwok

a snappy seasonal number to help ifc wow christmas shoppers

International Finance Centre is borrowing a page from the book of US department store chain Montgomery Ward.

In 1939, the company commissioned Robert L. May to write the Christmas carol Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. Now IFC has tapped the five-member, all-girl Australian a capella group Coco's Lunch to write a seasonal number for the shopping mall.

So how does the girls' effort, Enchanted Christmas Village at the IFC, stack up against good old Rudolph? It's jazzier, that's for sure, with Sue Johnson laying down a snappy beat box and Jacqueline Gawler taking the lead vocal.

But you can judge for yourself: both will be performing at the IFC mall today, along with the Beacon Hill School Choir. The other members of Coco's Lunch arrive for performances between December 14 and 26.

And if you can't make it to the mall you can check out our podcast at www.scmp.com/podcasting.

committee money list

Let's say you're an investment banker, earning millions of dollars a year. You sit on the listing committee of the stock exchange, turning thumbs up or down on firms vying to sell shares in what is now the world's busiest market for initial public offerings. You've always done the job for free, believing it to be part of your duty towards your profession.

Now all of sudden you're being offered a token sum in return for your efforts. Will it make you take the task more seriously?

A number of people will be asking this question after the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing board of directors yesterday approved the principle of paying the 28 listing committee members. The amount of the payment has yet to be set but it will probably fall between HK$50,000 and HK$100,000 per year.

The idea, apparently, is that the committee, formed of bankers, brokers, accountants and fund managers, deserves some palpable expression of thanks for reading a lot of documentation before its meetings.

Concerned as they are about showing some appreciation to the committee members, the 13 HKEx directors haven't proposed anything like their own level of remuneration - HK$240,000 a year. Any well-heeled listing committee members troubled by the idea of the yearly honorarium can always donate the money to charity, of course.

rubin for idols, not white house

Robert Rubin, the Clinton-era US Treasury Secretary who was in town to address a Citibank leadership forum yesterday, can't escape his political past.

In the question-and-answer session after his speech he was asked if he would be interested in returning to Washington in 2008 'if Mrs Clinton gave him a call?'

'I really wouldn't want to go back to Washington after spending 6? years there,' he said. 'But I love having my friends there and I love the gossip. I get to give my advice and they get to get things done.'

He made many mentions of his ex-boss Bill Clinton, whom he described as his idol. Among other people he admires are former premier Zhu Rongji and Singapore's patriarch Lee Kuan Yew.

One of our SCMP colleagues asked what he would be buying if he were still running a desk at Goldman Sachs, where he made his name. He sidestepped that question but cautioned that today's US dollar weakness, attributable to the current account deficit, wouldn't last forever.

Sir Gordon Wu, a man so enamoured of all things American that he named his son after Thomas Jefferson, was at the head table with Mr Rubin. 'He's a smart guy,' he said.

record truffle

Still with the Wu family, it has emerged that Sir Gordon's wife entered the successful HK$1.25 million charity auction bid for an Alba white truffle from northern Italy.

We hear that the Wu clan will host a grand celebratory dinner at the Ritz Carlton tomorrow.

Truffle anyone?



Lai See