Finance Titans Bet Hong Kong Will Top London This Year

Global finance heavyweights are lining up behind Hong Kong. At the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit, several international financial executives expressed full confidence in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Over London

Micheal Sacks, chairman and chief executive of US alternative asset manager GCM Grosvenor, made his view plain. He is betting that Hong Kong will overtake London.

Sacks recalled that last year he predicted Hong Kong would pass London in the Global Financial Centres Index. In the end, the gap between the two cities narrowed to a single point, and Hong Kong came within a whisker of pulling ahead. This year, he said, he is making the same call again: "by this time next year, Hong Kong will surpass London". He also promised that if the prediction misses again, he will not make it a third year in a row.

Hunting Talent in Hong Kong

Gregory Bond, chief investment officer of Man Group, the world's largest listed hedge fund manager, says the firm is actively hiring investment professionals in Hong Kong. It sees the city as a building block in its global talent strategy.

Bond said one especially valuable feature of markets like Hong Kong is that they double as a key breeding ground for talent, which helps spread business risk. 

That is why Man Group is actively recruiting investment professionals in both Shanghai and Hong Kong, a push he said is helping the firm build a more diverse talent base worldwide.

Outpacing the Mainland

PAG Executive Chairman and Co-Founder Weijian Shan talked up Hong Kong's booming economy and exports. He drew a direct comparison between the city's growth rate and mainland China's.

Shan said Hong Kong's economic environment is in fine shape, with exports growing vigorously. He expected the city's growth this year to outpace mainland China's for the first time, at least the first time in his memory.

Hong Kong's GDP is now growing at 5.2%, he noted, while mainland China's is running at around 4.6%.

Three Decades, Still Buying

Warburg Pincus is not done with Hong Kong. CEO Jeffrey Perlman said the firm keeps hunting for deals in the city, and its 30-plus years there show how central Hong Kong remains to its long-term strategy.

Perlman said Warburg Pincus continues to find attractive companies headquartered in Hong Kong, pointing to its acquisition of Topcast, a leading regional distributor of civil aviation parts. He said Hong Kong will remain very important to the firm from both capital markets and corporate investment perspectives, and that after more than 30 years with an office in the city, Warburg Pincus plans to keep increasing its investment there.

Hong Kong's Triple Advantage

Ben Way, global head of Macquarie Asset Management (MAM), delivered the most rounded verdict of the day. Speaking from the vantage point of a multinational asset manager, he spelled out three functions that reinforce one another: pooling capital, supplying professional talent, and connecting markets around the world.

Hong Kong, he noted, links up not only with Asia but increasingly with other markets such as the Middle East. That tells you something about the city's place on his firm's map. It is no mere gateway to China or Asia; it plays a broader role as a cross-regional financial hub.

Way described Hong Kong as the firm's regional hub, the place where it scouts top talent, and its bridge to the rest of Asia and, increasingly, to other markets around the world, especially the Middle East. He said the position the city has built in capital markets matters enormously: as a source of funding, as a magnet for equity capital for its funds, as a supplier of talent, and as a connector between markets. That mix, in his view, is what truly sets Hong Kong apart and gives it a competitive edge, and Macquarie will keep doubling down on those strengths.

A Global Talent Magnet

Zhang Lei, founder and chairman of Hillhouse Investment, one of Asia-Pacific's biggest private equity firms, says Hong Kong's pull for talent is global. The city is not just drawing people from mainland China. That global reach showcases Hong Kong's international talent base and the growth potential of its asset management industry.

Talent is flooding into Hong Kong from all over the world, Zhang said. These arrivals come not just from mainland China, as many might assume, but from every other part of the world too. In his view, Hong Kong is truly becoming a magnet for global talent.

Ariel

** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **

Joshua Wong pleaded guilty to conspiring with fugitive Nathan Law and others to collude with foreign forces. Today (November 5), the High Court handed him a heavy 10-year prison sentence.

Joshua Wong admits collusion, gets 10 years.

The Sentence Lands

Designated National Security Law Judge William Tam Yiu-ho ruled that the case fell into the "serious offence" category.

One name kept surfacing in the judge's sentencing remarks: Nathan Law. The former Demosisto founding chairman is now a fugitive overseas, wanted by the police National Security Department. Tam said Law and Wong were both the "masterminds" or "principal offenders" and its "foremost advocates" in the case.

Judge names Law and Wong as masterminds of the case.

The pair called on foreign countries to impose sanctions and other hostile measures. Even after the Hong Kong National Security Law took effect, they kept committing acts that endangered national security. They deliberately split their roles. Law kept pushing for sanctions and hostile measures from overseas. Wong stayed in Hong Kong, publishing messages and articles to back those acts and fuel the offences.

Officials Weigh In

Chief Executive John Lee also weighed in with a statement. He branded Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and their circle "among the primary culprits responsible for undermining Hong Kong's prosperity and stability."

Lee laid out in his speech that the group first obstructed the SAR government's push to introduce national education, aiming to weaken young people's sense of national identity. They went on to set up radical organizations, incite students to break the law, and promote Hong Kong independence and self-determination. They added fuel to the 2019 Black Riots and a Hong Kong-style color revolution, leaving a litany of misdeeds.

Steve Li, Chief Superintendent of the National Security Department, said the charge and the facts of the case both involve Nathan Law. He called on Law to return to Hong Kong, turn himself in, and face judicial proceedings.

The Fugitive's Flight

The record speaks for itself. Before the Hong Kong National Security Law took effect, Nathan Law slipped out of Hong Kong for London, and he has been on the run overseas ever since.

Nathan Law fled to UK before security law became effective.

In July 2023, the police National Security Department put a HK$1 million bounty on his head. Law was listed as a specified fugitive under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance.

Wong, Law met US consular official Julie Eadeh in hotel in August 2019.

A well-placed source says Law could not be bothered when his good friend Joshua Wong was denied political asylum by the US Consulate. He fled to the United Kingdom anyway and applied for political asylum the moment he landed.

Once Law had the aura of political refugee status, the cash followed. He gives interviews to US and Western media from time to time, and he opened an account on an online subscription platform to rake in money, milking political patronage for all it is worth.

Charged, Then Abandoned

Some media outlets had earlier reported that a female comrade close to Joshua Wong had been "taken over" by Nathan Law.

Wong, the so-called "good brother," stayed in Hong Kong to face the legal consequences. He now has another 10 years in prison ahead of him and will not taste freedom again until middle age. Law, the "good comrade," gave a flawless performance of sending others charging in while slipping away himself.

But the facts unearthed in these cases tell a different story. Joshua Wong is no hero ready to die for his political ideals.

The day the US Consulate turned him away at the door said it all. Washington weighed the pros and cons, decided that helping Wong and his crew would do more harm than good, and without a second thought wrote them off as "discarded pawns" with no value left to exploit.

A Warning for Youth

The well-informed source traced the arc. At 15, Joshua Wong founded Scholarism to fight national education. At 30, he faces a long stretch behind bars for crimes including colluding with external forces, subverting state power and unlawful assembly.

His good friend Nathan Law, meanwhile, is still on the run. Wanted and living in exile, he has cut ties with all his relatives.

The stories of the two men are warning enough for young people today. Think carefully, and tell right from wrong. Never fall for the lies of so-called political advocates and wreck your own future.