Since the outbreak of the social movement in 2016, Hong Kong has been purged of dissidents by fair means or foul. Worse still, the more deadly the means, the more excited the leftist. Now that the reactionary figures have been expelled ruthlessly one after another, those Red Guards are looking for new enemies, even in the financial industry.

Maggie Chen Man-qi, a law graduate from the University of Hong Kong, proposed in written form as a delegate to the National People’s Congress drawing up an act of examining public servants for election qualification, as well as further elaborating that the stipulation concerning giving up dual nationality be extended to include key statutory institutions such as the Monetary Authority and Insurance Authority.

In the two financial watchdogs managed by local Chinese, though a lot of high-ranking mangers have dual nationality, the impact is relatively insignificant. The real impact is, however, on the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), one of the major statutory institutions predominated by expats, for Ashley Adlder, its CEO, is a Hong Kong permanent citizen holding a British passport, and Thomas Atkinson, its Executive Director responsible for the Enforcement Division, is Canadian. If the Red Guards are keen on making trouble for these foreigners, it is not difficult to imagine the way they denounce them.

The problem concerning Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) is pretty severe. Laura Cha Shih May-lung, chairman of HKEX (388), has told the public that Nicolas Aguzin, the newly appointed CEO of the institution, is an Argentine and Hong Kong permanent resident, as well as holding a Croat passport. He was educated in the US, used to work at JP Morgan Chase, but does not hold a green card.

Only some simple remarks from the CEO of HKEX, the essence of Hong Kong stock market, could smash up the entire market. So his complicated background is also trouble-inviting. Since Aguzin’s foreign forces background, which comprises South American and East European forces, is literally inconceivable, no wonder the pro-establishment camp ferociously denounced him for being a foreigner.

Under such a precarious situation, the SFC is believed to have struggled for ratifying the appointment of Aguzin as the CEO made by Laura Cha Shih. Eventually, on the day “the stock markets in the Asian region crashed for his indiscreet remarks on the increment in stamp duty”, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po made a bold decision to allow of the designation. Maybe the central financial authorities responsible for this appointment intend leaving the leftist with an admonition to be practical and realistic, but these leftist monsters have been raging across the city already.

The Chairman and CEO of HSBC are British, and the Chairman and CEO of Standard Chartered Hong Kong are Spanish and American respectively. If note-issuing banks such as these two are deemed a partial statutory institution, they need an overall reorganization of the management teams or else foreigners issuing banknotes is also an issue. With conspiracy theories prevailing, everything is blown totally out of proportion.

The pro-establishment camp used to accuse dissidents of upholding an attitude of lam chau(mutually assured destruction) towards the future of Hong Kong. In fact, the former were not reconciled to having the job done by the latter. Now that Hong Kong is being purged of dissidents, the leftist camp will engage in lam chauing Hong Kong. The crisis of the financial industry is drawing near.

( CEO Ching, fb.com/IFC89 )

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