The Securities and Futures Commission Chief Executive Officer Martin Wheatley announces that he will be leaving the commission next summer. Edmond Tang / China Daily

CEO: Decision to quit made for personal reasons

Martin Wheatley, chief executive officer of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), will leave his post next June, three months before his contract expires, the market regulator said Wednesday.

The SFC announced Wheatley's resignation in a brief statement without giving a reason or naming a successor. Calls directed to the regulator's spokesman, Jonathan Lee, were unanswered.

However, the Hong Kong government has begun seeking a replacement for Wheatley, said Shirley Wong, spokeswoman for the Financial Services and Treasury Bureau.

Wheatley said at a press briefing Wednesday that the move is a "personal decision".

The 51-year-old has been chief executive of the regulator since 2006 after joining in June 2005. Wheatley said he is "extremely sorry to leave Hong Kong but it is time to go back to the UK."

"My six years with the SFC - hectic and demanding at times - have been very fruitful. The commission has taken in its stride the many challenges that confronted the financial markets and regulators and we have been able to adopt a pragmatic and sensible approach in our regulation," he said.

Alan Ewins, head of law firm Allen & Overy's Asia Pacific Regulatory Group, commented that "Martin Wheatley's departure from the SFC will be a crossroads in Hong Kong regulatory reform."

Ewins believes that Hong Kong's regulatory regime is performing a delicate balancing act, which means adjusting to international developments while at the same time catering to domestic issues such as the Lehman mini bonds fiasco. That equilibrium, according to Ewins, will be tested in the wake of Wheatley's departure.

The SFC has made several eye-catching moves in its pursuit of better corporate governance in the securities market under Wheatley's leadership.

In 2009, the regulator blocked PCCW, the city's largest fixed-line telecommunication operator owned by business tycoon Richard Li, from going private, on the grounds of vote-rigging at a shareholder meeting. The SFC also secured jail sentences for insider trading in 2009 for the first time in Hong Kong.

In May of this year, it boosted protection for retail buyers of structured financial products after losses on notes guaranteed by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc led to an HK$6.3 billion settlement between banks and investors.

The Lehman Brothers mini bond case was a challenge, Wheatley told the press briefing. He previously commented in an interview regarding the issue that "all regulatory models were tested by the crisis, and all failed in some way, but more important is how we've responded."

In September, brokerage firm CLSA and the Asia Corporate Governance Association (ACGA) jointly conducted a survey and issued their annual report, Corporate Governance Watch. Hong Kong slipped to second place behind regional rival Singapore in this year's ranking, due to stalled reforms aimed at boosting corporate governance at a policy level, the survey said.

Jamie Allen, secretary general of ACGA, suggested that the listing rules of the SFC should be made into law, which would allow the regulator a larger leadership role as well as the ability to exert greater sanctioning power.

Bloomberg contributed to this story.

China Daily

(HK Edition 12/09/2010 page2)