CLSA Ltd.’s global head of corporate access is leaving the investment bank after his proposal to hold the firm’s flagship annual conference in-person in Singapore drew criticism from senior executives in Beijing.
The move is the latest example of a years-long culture clash within Hong Kong-based CLSA that has seen many of its senior international bankers depart after it was acquired by state-owned Chinese brokerage Citic Securities Co. Changes within the broker have partly mirrored those in the city more broadly, as China’s ruling Communist Party tightens its grip on the once-freewheeling former British colony.
Kai Kaufmann was asked to depart in August after he submitted a plan to host the forum in Singapore, instead of Hong Kong, at a cost more than three times higher than a virtual gathering, according to people familiar with the decision who asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential.
The firm’s annual conference, one of the year’s most anticipated events in Hong Kong’s financial circles before the city adopted strict Covid control measures echoing those in China, was best known for featuring speakers including George Clooney, Bill Clinton, and Alan Greenspan. Moving the event to Singapore would have been a politically sensitive decision for a state-owned Chinese brokerage at a time when Xi Jinping’s government is doubling down on its strict Covid Zero policy.
A media representative at CLSA didn’t respond to requests for comment. Kaufmann declined to comment.
Kaufmann joined CLSA from Deutsche Bank AG in 2019 to run corporate access and client strategy. As well as making Kaufmann redundant, its Beijing parent Citic Securities has also restructured the team by combining its corporate access group with the research department, and its client strategy team with sales, one of the people said. Some senior managers at CLSA were also sceptical of the summit plan, the person said.
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Costly Forum
Questions remain whether Citic Securities will approve a budget for an in-person summit next year, with the cost of hosting a large investor conference within the industry around US$3 million ($4.2 million) to US$5 million, compared with about US$1 million for a virtual gathering, one of the people said. Choosing Singapore over Hong Kong might have contributed to the objection, they said. This year’s event will be held virtually from Sept 13-16.
Hong Kong is struggling to lift its status as a global financial centre in the wake of the Covid pandemic as travel restrictions combined with strict quarantine rules prompted firms to move staff to rival hubs such as Singapore. China’s Covid Zero policy has also restricted movement on the mainland, with megacity Chengdu Thursday extending a weeklong lockdown in most downtown areas.
Kaufmann joined Deutsche Bank in 2008 and was the architect of its Access Asia conference in 2010, one of Asia’s largest annual investor gatherings that he oversaw for a decade. He joined CLSA in October 2019 for a similar role after Deutsche Bank shut most of its equities business in Asia, though the pandemic meant its conference has been held virtually every year since then.
