WHEN Jardine Fleming emerges from its self-imposed exile on June 1, it will be backed by a six-month restructuring programme affecting almost every facet of its daily operation.
The unit-trust company will be out to make up for lost ground after a huge surge in business during January's bull market forced it to shut its doors to new investors, close down regular savings plans and dramatically boost minimum investment levels to block out existing clients.
The revamp carries the clear mark of new chief executive Tony Doggart. The 53-year-old former finance director at Save and Prosper, Jardine Fleming's sister unit-trust company in Britain, had just four days' notice before coming to Hong Kong.
However, according to Mr Doggart, the painful restructuring is only the beginning. In the short term, the overhaul will enable Jardine Fleming to handle with ease the more than 4,000 transactions a day that forced it to close in January. In the long term, it will elevate the company, which at the height of its popularity held a 65 per cent share of Hong Kong's mutual fund industry, into the global big league.
By June, Jardine Fleming will be able to process 5,000 transactions per day and by the end of next year, when all new administrative mechanisms have been introduced, this will rise to 10,000.
''Jardine Fleming won't just be a Hong Kong and a Far East player,'' said Mr Doggart. ''These volumes rival that of many of the large United States mutual funds.'' Jardine Fleming's controversial decision to shut out new retail clients at a time when investors were clamouring to get into the market drew plenty of criticism, along with a lot of speculation, but the company has maintained it was the only feasible course of action.