Lai See | Slone sees silver lining for CLSA on hopes rivals bite the dust

Those in the broking industry are usually fairly adept at turning adversity into an opportunity. But the current investment environment appears to have defeated Jonathan Slone, chairman and chief executive of CLSA.

In his welcome message to delegates at the firm's 19th Investor Forum, he writes: "I've been trying really hard to write an upbeat, bullish, 'it's only going to get better from here' welcome … It is proving mighty difficult." Noting that problems still persisted in the EU, the US and China, he says: "The best good news is that Israel has not bombed Iran … yet."

Talking to the press later, he noted that the finance industry wasn't in great shape and he expected "capitulation from some of our competitors" when firms downsize or leave the market entirely. This happened following previous downturns in 1986, in 1988, during the Asian Financial Crisis and now. He expected further "dislocation in the market" and hoped this would provide opportunities for CLSA to grow by making some acquisitions.

So, in a nutshell Slone couldn't help himself and towards the end of his briefing was sounding moderately bullish at least so far as CLSA was concerned.

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