Who’s who of mainland financiers in Hong Kong as Mandarin becomes the common tongue for Central’s investment bankers

Mainlanders take up about 60 per cent of all investment banking jobs in Hong Kong, up 10 percentage points from 2015, and their share may widen to between 65 per cent and 70 per cent over the next four years

Chinese banks have increased their share of Hong Kong’s deals, making up seven of last year’s top 10 IPO bookrunners

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Published: 2:00pm, 23 Jan 2021Updated: 2:09pm, 23 Jan 2021

Hong Kong’s banks and stockbrokers are hiring more financiers from mainland China to use their Mandarin-speaking skills to pitch for initial public offers (IPOs) and other deals, as the city’s stock benchmark hovers at a 20-month high amid record inflow of capital from China.

Mainlanders take up about 60 per cent of all investment banking jobs in Hong Kong, up 10 percentage points from 2015, and their share may widen to between 65 per cent and 70 per cent over the next four years, said John Mullally, regional director at the executive search firm Robert Walters, citing data and conversations with clients.

“Investment banks actually care less about where candidates come from than their demand for native Mandarin speakers familiar with the [corporate] culture in mainland China,” said Jerry Chang, managing director at the recruiting firm Barons & Co.

The changing demographics in Asia’s second-largest capital market has spillover socioeconomic implications in a city grappling with record unemployment and its worst recession in decades, while nerves remain raw from the anti-government protests of 2019 and resentment against mainlanders bubble under the surface. Still, the trend reflects Hong Kong’s reliance on mainland capital – and talent – to remain relevant as China’s offshore financial centre.

China-domiciled companies like Nongfu Spring made up 98 per cent of the US$50.83 billion raised last year through IPOs in Hong Kong, up from the 73 per cent in 2019 and 94 per cent in 2018, according to Refinitiv’s data. A decade ago, Chinese companies made up 51 per cent of new capital raised in Hong Kong.

Chinese banks led by China International Capital Corp (CICC), China Merchants Bank and Citic Securities have increased their share of Hong Kong’s deals, making up seven of last year’s top 10 IPO bookrunners. In 2015, five of the top 10 were Chinese banks, while CICC was the sole Chinese bank in the top as recently as 2010.

Here are 10 of the most influential financiers in Hong Kong who hail from the mainland, based on Refinitiv’s 2020 ranking of equity capital market (ECM) deals: