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Li Xiaojia tipped to head HKEx

By Bi Xiaoning (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-21 08:18

Li Xiaojia

Li Xiaojia, the current chairman of JPMorgan Chase in China, appears to be the most likely candidate to head bourse operator Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (HKEx) when the current incumbent retires next year.

Li yesterday indicated that he is leaving his current post in a telephone interview with Reuters. Hong Kong media had earlier reported that Li was likely to be the first chief executive of the bourse with a mainland background.

A source close to HKEx told China Daily that the current HKEx Chief Executive Paul Chow will retire in April 2010 and Li was the preferred candidate to take over the mantle. A formal decision in this regard would be made at bourse's board meeting in June and would also need approval from the securities regulator.

Li, 48, had worked earlier as a China Daily reporter after graduating from Xiamen University in the 1980s. In 1986, he studied in the US and got a master's degree in news reporting and a doctorate in law. Subsequently he joined Merrill Lynch and became its China president in 1999. He assumed his current post in JPMorgan Chase in 2003.

"It is necessary to select a chief executive with mainland background for the HKEx, as the market value of mainland companies listed on the HKEx is already over 40 percent of the bourse's total market value," said Zhang Yichen, chief executive officer, CITIC Capital.

Zhang said that Li is the ideal candidate as he has an excellent command over securities law, good relations with mainland regulators and capital market experience in mainland and Hong Kong.