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Enoch Yiu

Sun Hung Kai Financial, one of Hong Kong's oldest and largest securities brokerages, has a new executive chairman, 32-year-old Lee Seng Huang, the youngest son of Malaysian tycoon Lee Ming Tee (below).

The 66-year-old patriarch was formerly chairman of Allied Group, the ultimate parent of Sun Hung Kai Financial. Now retired, he is an avid golfer and passed the jobs to his three children.

Lee Seng Huang, his sister Lee Su Hwei, 36, and his brother Lee Seng Hui, 38, are trustees of the Lee and Lee Trust, which owns about 41 per cent of Allied Group, which in turn owns 75 per cent of Allied Properties (HK) Ltd, the controlling shareholder of Sun Hung Kai Financial.

Yesterday, the new head of the brokerage met the press for the first time since he took office on January 1, succeeding the retiring Arthur Dew.

He served as a director of the company from 1999 to 2003 before moving to Sydney to help manage his father's property business there.

The youngest of the Lee siblings studied at the University of Sydney.

He is chairman of another family business, Mulpha International, a Malaysian-listed conglomerate with operations in Southeast Asia, Australia and China, and a director of FKP Property Group, an Australian-listed developer.

He has plans to extend Sun Hung Kai Financial's reach beyond traditional brokerage into hedge funds, bonds and wealth management.

'Brokerage is a sunset industry but the fund and wealth management industries in Hong Kong are on a rising trend and full of opportunities because of all the people who will need to hire professionals to manage their retirement funds and savings,' he said.

He said being the son of a tycoon wasn't a bed of roses.

'It's never easy to run a family business. If you do it right, people think it's because of what you inherited from your father. If you get it wrong, your father and others will blame you,' he said.

'And if you set up your own business, people will think you aren't a good son because you refuse to help your father.''

Mr Lee jokingly complains of earning a basic salary of HK$150,000 a month, with discretionary bonus and rental reimbursement. (Mr Chairman, please note: that's more than 10 times what most people earn in Hong Kong.)

training gets the edge over entertainment

The Hong Kong Securities Institute also has a new chairman.

Au King-lun (right), our podcast guest this week, is a veteran fund manger. He has worked for a number of international fund houses and is now a director and head of institutional and private clients at HSBC Investment (Hong Kong).

He served as chairman of the Hong Kong Investment Funds Association in 2004 and 2005.

The securities institute provides training for thousands of brokers, insurance agents, fund managers and company directors every year. Everyone who wants to enter the securities market is required by the Securities and Futures Commission to pass an examination set by the institute.

What's more, all licensed persons must attend at least five hours of training every year. While many brokers think entertaining their clients is the way to make business grow, Mr Au says professional training is just as important since customers constantly demand more of their brokers.

read all about it

For those youngsters who want to learn more about accountancy, a council member of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Ronald Kung, has just the thing. He and other five writers have  penned a book - The 12 Accounting Firms in Hong Kong -  describing the key players in the profession.



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