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Ben Kwok

Nostalgic HSBC chief tells where bank's heart lies
Not a day has gone by without a picture of HSBC Holdings chief executive Michael Geoghegan (below) peering out from at least one of the city's newspapers since it was announced  on Friday last week that he would be stationed in Hong Kong from  February next year.
The bank, which moved its headquarters from Hong Kong to London in the early 1990s, has been working overtime to show where its heart really lies  before the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic.
That would probably explain why his public relations troops offered us Geoghegan's thoughts on today's momentous occasion. 
His message read: 'In my 35 years with HSBC, I have seen nothing in any of the 86 markets in which we operate that matches the remarkable transformation of China. 
'HSBC was of course 'made in' Hong Kong and Shanghai in 1865 and we have had a continuous presence in China ever since. I am proud of the small part we have played in supporting China's development through the first 60 years of the People's Republic, and I am enormously excited about the future.'
 Optimism about HSBC coming back east, or turning red, has helped HSBC climb back to the spot where it was almost a year ago. The stock closed yesterday at HK$89.90, up 37 per cent in the third quarter after a subpar performance in successive quarters since 2007, when  the bank confessed to having a subprime mortgage problem.
The performance of the bank has also been the main reason why the Hang Seng Index  had surged 14 per cent in the third quarter.
Investors must be wishing HSBC management had made its China move much earlier, especially after the idea was first raised by disgruntled shareholder Knight Vinke in November 2007.
Richard Li says it by action
Someone else trying to make a statement is PCCW chairman Richard Li Tzar-kai, although  his comes in the form of action rather than words. 
In an attempt to boost investor confidence, he entered the market for the eighth time as the stock of his beleaguered telecommunications flagship dipped below HK$2.
 On Friday last week, Li picked up 259,000 shares at HK$1.99 each, a day after he bought 3.9 million shares at the same price. Since July, he has bought   14.15 million shares - all at HK$1.99 each - for a total of HK$28.16 million.
PCCW shares closed at HK$2.02 yesterday, 10 per cent above the price when he first announced the privatisation offer 12 months ago.
A delectably accurate index
Forget the purchasing managers' index, the consumer confidence index or even the Hang Seng Index. 
If you want to know how the economy is doing at the moment, Lai See has come up with the Mid-Autumn Festival hamper/mooncake index. And, judging by the number of hampers that have been delivered to our new office in Causeway Bay over the past couple of weeks, it is well on the road to recovery.
Last year's festival fell on the eve of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and was accompanied by slim pickings in the corporate gifts department. But this year, the business desk has been awash with about a dozen fruit hampers and three dozen tins of mooncakes.
As with any core business, content also matters. 
This year, some of the hampers - mainly from profitable property  developers and a few listing candidates - have included Japanese apples rather than the mainland variety and a few boxes of Godiva chocolates.
Things are definitely looking up.
Charity white knights
The booming equity market in the third quarter has persuaded the local financial industry to salvage a charity fund-raiser that was called off earlier in the year.
More than 300 fund managers, bankers and brokers are getting together  on Thursday next week for a quiz night at the Hong Kong Football Club to raise money for Operation Smile and Crossroads International.
It replaces the annual awards ceremony that was postponed until March next year  because of fears that nobody would be  employed to attend any financial industry fund-raiser six months ago. However, since then, things have  indeed perked up.
Organiser Andrew Riddick said the quiz would not cover the latest Securities and Futures Commission rules on insider trading, but more on what  the most frequently withdrawn dollar amount from a Hong Kong automated teller machine is. 
The annual event  has raised US$4 million for charities since 2003.



Lai See