| What should be top priority for Hong Kong’s incoming Securities and Futures Commission CEO? |
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Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) ended months of speculation last month with the announcement that Herbert Smith's Asia corporate head, Ashley Alder, was set to fill the chief executive post left vacant by Martin Wheatley in June.
The news was well received. Alder's three-year stint as board member and executive director of the SFC's corporate finance division from 2001 to 2004 garnered him the respect of the market. His tenure at Herbert Smith, specialising in private equity as well as regulatory and compliance work, further built on that.
"Alder knows the people in the market; he knows the regulator and the banks. He understands," said one Hong Kong-based general counsel. "He'll be able to hit the ground running and effect some changes in the market."
Certainly, the market has high hopes of the...