{"id":3700,"date":"2019-04-08T11:43:40","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T03:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.levin.com.hk\/%e6%9c%aa%e5%88%86%e9%a1%9e\/hong-kong-mds-will-think-twice-about-joining-chinese-banks-after-citic-exits-juniors-wont\/"},"modified":"2019-04-08T11:43:40","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T03:43:40","slug":"hong-kong-mds-will-think-twice-about-joining-chinese-banks-after-citic-exits-juniors-wont","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.levin.com.hk\/zh-hant\/blog-zh-hant\/hong-kong-mds-will-think-twice-about-joining-chinese-banks-after-citic-exits-juniors-wont\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong MDs will think twice about joining Chinese banks after CITIC exits. Juniors won\u2019t"},"content":{"rendered":"

The recent departure of high-profile executives from\u00a0<\/a>state-owned CITIC\u00a0Securities has exposed some of the potential dangers of reaching a senior position at a Chinese bank in Hong Kong as Beijing looks to take more control over its large conglomerates. Lower down the ranks, however, firms like CITIC, CICC and BOCI are emerging as viable options for junior bankers in Hong Kong who want to build large mainland client networks at the start of their careers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday, Jonathan Slone\u00a0resigned from his role<\/a>\u00a0as chief executive of CLSA, the Hong Kong broker that CITIC acquired in 2012. His departure comes just two weeks after that of CLSA chairman Tang Zhenyi. Nigel Beattie, CLSA\u2019s COO, is also reportedly leaving.<\/span><\/p>\n

Their exits have wider significant for senior Hong Kong-based managers at Chinese banks. CLSA is seen as the freewheeling Hong Kong offshoot of the more conservative CITIC. CLSA\u2019s parent has legitimate concerns about the unit\u2019s performance after its attempts to expand in M&A, ECM and prime brokerage have faltered. But the executive departures serve as a reminder that Western-style management doesn\u2019t always gel well with Chinese bureaucracy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Slone, for example, led CLSA under its previous owner, France's Cr\u00e9dit Agricole, and famously\u00a0called his firm \u201can insane asylum\u201d<\/a>\u00a0because of its nonconformist\u00a0research ideas. Now CLSA\u2019s ability to offer independent research has been\u00a0called into question by Bloomberg<\/a>\u00a0because its ultimate owner is the Chinese government.<\/span><\/p>\n

Senior jobs at Chinese banks in Hong Kong have been slowly becoming more attractive over the past few years, particularly as Western banks have cut senior roles, leaving managing directors with fewer options if they want to stay within the sell-side. While Chinese banks are still keen to scoop up MDs who\u2019ve been cut from US and European players, growing concern about the CITIC exits makes it less likely that their job offers will be taken up, says a Hong Kong-based headhunter.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCandidates have always had issues about moving to a Chinese bank for the first time \u2013 mainly around base pay and office culture. But the CITIC news raises new concerns that, if they are in a leadership position, they will be too constrained by head office,\u201d says the headhunter, speaking off the record.<\/span><\/p>\n

They may ultimately also be reined in by Beijing. The\u00a0Financial Times reports<\/a>\u00a0that the Chinese government is tightening its control of state-owned enterprises, including powerful ones such as CITIC. An increasing number of executives are leaving these organisations because of onerous HR policies, such as restrictions on personal movement. Tang, who was not accused of wrongdoing, cannot reportedly leave China until after an internal audit is completed, according to the FT.<\/span><\/p>\n

The crackdown on CLSA isn\u2019t likely to make graduates and junior bankers less enthusiastic about working for Chinese banks in Hong Kong, says the headhunter. An analyst at BOCI says he joined a Chinese bank because it\u2019s a much quicker way of building up the network of Chinese clients that he needs to establish his\u00a0investment banking career<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019ve been given client-facing responsibility early on and I\u2019m out with Chinese clients most nights,\u201d he says. \u201cMy friends at US banks in HK haven\u2019t got the same kind of connections as I have, so I can always move to a foreign bank in the future. A Chinese bank is a stepping stone.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He may want to move before he gets too senior, however. Despite its attempts to become the \u2018Goldman Sachs of China\u2019, senior base pay at CITIC is reportedly poor. Bonus cuts were also reportedly a factor behind Slone\u2019s decision to leave.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source : efinancial careers<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The recent departure of high-profile executives from\u00a0state-o Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3698,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[80],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levin.com.hk\/zh-hant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3700"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levin.com.hk\/zh-hant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levin.com.hk\/zh-hant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levin.com.hk\/zh-hant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levin.com.hk\/zh-hant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.levin.com.hk\/zh-hant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levin.com.hk\/zh-hant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levin.com.hk\/zh-hant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levin.com.hk\/zh-hant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levin.com.hk\/zh-hant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}