At noon on May 7, 2020, Li Xiaojia, president of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, announced that he would not renew his contract, causing the share price of Hong Kong listed company "Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing" (00388) to fall for two consecutive days on May 7 and May 8. The respect of the stock market for the company's leaders has always been so simple and boring.

Hong Kong's economic influence has been declining over the past decade, but the market capitalization of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under Li Xiaojia has more than tripled, though not as fast as the Hong Kong property market. but it is a fact recognized by the global financial circle that the Hong Kong stock market has never been squeezed out of the core circle of China's capital market.

A few years later, when President Li Xiaojia went to inspect, he could also be ashamed to sum up: after ten years of work at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, there was nothing else but three little things:First, it has connected the capital markets of Hong Kong and the mainland; second, it has opened the listing channel for companies with different rights of the same shares; and third, it has promoted the wave of return of the general public.

Comrade Li Xiaojia is not easy. You know, the typical feature of Hong Kong's financial market is that the temple is full of demons and the pool is shallow and the king is more than eight.

Here, foreign capital, Hong Kong capital and Chinese capital each have their own plans and ideas. The HKEx once lost its ground and was timid, resulting in the gradual sinking of the Hong Kong stock market after the highlight of red chips and H shares. Thousands of shares are rampant, lack of liquidity, market valuation is abnormal, the days are Wang Xiaoer's New year, year after year.

After Li Xiaojia took office, he made some achievements by doing solid work. The chairman of the mainland Securities Regulatory Commission is determined to reform, and he is often taught by the rough waves of A-shares. The reform of the Chief Executive of the HKEx has to face the arrogance and conservative mentality of foreigners and Hong Kong people for no reason.

Li Xiaojia: the leader of HKEx

The unfriendliness of Hong Kong's capital market to the mainland is obvious. When mainland securities firms begin to recruit developers and APP products from BAT, the annual reports of Hong Kong listed companies are as difficult to read as Tianshu. Looking for data on the official website of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange a few years ago, it felt like going to a county office in the 1980s. Although I knew it could be done in the end, all kinds of anti-human processes and backward facades were really boring and explosive.

I can't see where the mainland is getting better, and I disdain to do it. After all, the Yankees are not worth adapting to Central. Lujiazui and Futian are both in the countryside.

Part.1

According to reason, Li Xiaojia's Beijing accent is not as good as that of Cantonese and English in Hong Kong's financial circle.

However, as a veteran driver of foreign investment banks, he has, after all, participated in the historical process of China's financial opening up. He has not only made a name for himself in hosting the issuance of the first sovereign bond, but also the glorious month of operating CNOOC China Mobile's listing. There are also meticulous people who have no choice but to work for the children of the rich and powerful in JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Li Xiaojiasheng worked in Beijing, grew up in Gansu, and even worked as a drilling worker for several years, studying overseas, from a young lawyer to president of Merrill Lynch China and chairman of Xiaomo China. While knowing a lot about the West, Li Xiaojia's global vision made him understand deeply.The future of HKEx lies in the mainland.

After establishing the basic policy of "connecting the world with a foothold in China", Li Xiaojia and Gui Minjie, then chairman of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, drew the prototype of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect on the napkins of the teahouse. The closed loop of HKEx and Zhongdeng settlement is used to realize the interconnection between Hong Kong shares and A shares under capital control.

A truly capable bureaucrat can jump out of the elegance of Swan Lake even in chains.

The hustle and bustle of the bull market in 2015 obscured the significance of the Shanghai-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, but when the dust fell to the ground, investors found that "North Water" and "South Water" had completely changed the capital markets of the two places-- the Hong Kong equity market of A-share leading effect and the A-share sentiment of the Hong Kong stock market. Quietly reshape the investment habits of investors in the two places.

Maotai, Meide, and Hengrui have been arched out of steady new highs, new highs, and then new highs by northward funds, while southward funds are not to be outdone. First, they have operated a roller coaster on the "former three Musketeers" of Meitu, IGG and Zhou's Black Duck, and then performed some leading tactics on the "last three Musketeers" of Rongchuang, Evergrande and Country Garden Holdings.

After injecting mainland elements into the investor structure of Hong Kong's capital market, Li Xiaojia did not stop calling for reform and progress, and soon began to transform the structure of Hong Kong listed companies.

After the privatization of Hong Kong shares, BABA completed the three major transformations of de-elegance, B2B transformation and Alipay independence. In 2013, Jack Ma actually sought the listing of BABA's entire Hong Kong stock market. At that time, the HKEx was quite disgusted with BABA's special dual structure. This kind of feudal mother-in-law's play in the face of his daughter-in-law naturally did not end well.

Ma Yun dropped the beautiful words that "BABA missed Hong Kong, not Hong Kong missed BABA." he turned around with BABA and went to the New York Stock Exchange. The Hong Kong stock market, which had an early opportunity to create a two-peak confrontation between the market capitalization of Chinese listed companies, has left only investors who resent Jack Ma deeply.

Full of regret, Li Xiaojia resisted public opinion and persistently launched two rounds of Hong Kong stock IPO reform attempts in the following years. Finally, on April 30, 2018, the revised main Board listing rules came into effect, and companies with different rights of the same shares (WVR) and non-profit biomedical companies were allowed to list in Hong Kong.

XIAOMI Group became the first listed company with dual ownership structure in Hong Kong on July 9, 2018, followed by Meituan on September 20. The beaches of leading biomedical companies such as Golly Pharmaceuticals, BeiGene, Ltd. and Kangxino Biology have wrinkled the dreary lake of Hong Kong stocks.

If you set up a stage to sing, you will inevitably compete with other theatrical troupes. As soon as Science and Technology Innovation Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange launched, the pitiful valuation of the Hong Kong pan-tech company was not enough. Jinshan Office (688111.sh) listed in Science and Technology Innovation Board, with a market capitalization of more than $130 billion, made Hong Kong shareholders feel as if they had swallowed lemons alive.

Now A-share chip plate bowls of drinking and eating meat, SMIC, Huahong, ASM these Hong Kong stock semiconductors veteran comrades are in the eyes, greedy in the heart, after all, compared with Hong Kong stock investors'QQ Soso (harvested too hard), A-share vegetable garden is also a core competitiveness.

But where is Hong Kong's core competitiveness? Li Xiaojia has always had a deep understanding: before the full financial opening up of the mainland, it has always been China's most important foreign financial port.

He once made a vivid conclusion that assets such as stocks and bonds are "goods", exchanges are "markets", and the goal of the HKEx is to become a market where Chinese money can buy world goods and world money can buy Chinese goods. It is Li Xiaojia's wish to move China's best goods into the "market" first.

Attending the Internet conference in Wuzhen and advertising at the IT leaders' Summit, Li Xiaojia has always spared no effort to strive for more mainland companies to list in Hong Kong. And at a time when China and the United States are caught in the Thucydides trap, Chinese companies listed in the United States seem to have a sense of drifting like duckweed and inevitably sprout the idea of going home.

The best thing, of course, is to go straight back to A-shares, with Jiang Nanchun and Zhou Hongyi in front of them. But after all, this is a small path, you must have the courage to put all your eggs in one basket, in case the situation changes, you will be caught blind in the middle of the journey. And the A-share old retail investors have long been suffering from the giant financing PTSD, as soon as they hear that the big guy is coming back, their pants are wet all over the floor.

Many people said in hindsight that the Securities Regulatory Commission did not properly supervise LUCKN COFFEE DRC, which led to a huge mess and handed a knife to US regulatory Chinese stocks. It is not easy without the SFC. In order to manage a market addicted to loopholes, we have to face decision-makers who emphasize both "want and want". There must be more than one thing.

The nervousness of Chinese-listed stocks, Li Xiaojia's "go home" in the listing of Ali Hong Kong shares, made Hong Kong look less ruthless in 2020. Rumors of NetEase, Inc, Baidu, Inc., and JD.com returning to Hong Kong for IPO have already caused a storm in the city. I think Pinduoduo, Bilibili Inc., and Deep-Fried Chicken will be tempted sooner or later.

While Li Xiaojia boasts to allow wandering Chinese stocks to return, he also plans to allow world oligarchs such as Walt Disney Company and Apple Inc to list in Hong Kong, and then rectify thousands of shares, further connectivity between the two places, and the internationalization of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. But he, who has announced that he will not renew his contract, is probably too late to achieve it.

The torch of the revolution will be handed over to the new comrades, and the person responsible for finding a new boss for the HKEx is Shi Meilun, the current chairman of the HKEx and an old acquaintance of A-share investors.

Part.2

Shi Meilun was born in 1949, 12 years older than Li Xiao. She was born in Ningbo, born in Shanghai, grew up in Hong Kong, studied in the United States, joined the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission in 1991, sat on the board for three years, and became vice chairman of the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission in 1998. Li Xiaojia said that he was met by Shi Meilun to join the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

At that time, Shi Meilun was an independent non-executive director of the HKEx. The first question he asked Li was: "Why are you qualified for the post of Chief Executive Officer? Li Xiaojia replied, "I am not competent because I have no experience in managing the company, I don't know IT, and I don't know Cantonese. "

On the contrary, Shi Meilun felt that Li Xiaojia was very frank and eventually introduced Li Xiaojia to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Young A-share investors may have little impression of Ms Shi, but veteran investors must be haunted by her regulatory storm. At that time in 2001, China's stock market was so black that it was fraudulently listed, financial fraud and market makers rampant. Xu Xiaonian said that he should start all over again. Wu Jinglian said bluntly that "it is not even as good as a casino."

As a matter of fact, the CSRC is determined to be powerless. On the one hand, all localities protect the calves of listed companies, on the other hand, their own level is limited and can not be managed. At that time, the media exposed the dark scenes of public offering funds, and Liu Hongru, the first chairman of the Securities Regulatory Commission, came out to swear:The fund is only 2 years old, and a 2-year-old child may pee his pants. He should be allowed to pee.。

Expecting the Chinese stock market to play a greater role, especially Premier Zhu, who was anxious to solve the social security problem, entrusted Gao Xiqing, the general manager of CIC later, to see if he could get some professionals to help from Hong Kong. As soon as Gao Xiqing thought about it, he recommended Shi Meilun, who works for the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission.

Shi Meilun is very outstanding in her work in Hong Kong to crack down on Heizhuang and arrest counterfeiting. Hong Kong journalists who like nicknames call her "the working queen that counterfeiting companies fear most." Shi Meilun, who has outstanding ability, earns a very high salary, which is as high as 5.4 million Hong Kong dollars around the millennium. This is unthinkable for mainland regulators.

But Boss Zhu has always been bold and personally decided, "how much Hong Kong gives, how much we give." "

Of course, there is criticism from the mainland government departments for paying such high wages. Shi Meilun's attitude is very high: "some people say that you should give a discount on your salary. I wonder how much discount it will be." A 50% discount is also very high for the mainland. She finally decided to take all her salary, but she donated it to do the "Smyron Fund" for the staff of the China Securities Regulatory Commission to train abroad, which is worthy of high level.

Shi Meilun sincerely wants to do something for the mainland capital market, and she regards Boss Zhu's invitation as a "an opportunity of lifetime (rare opportunity in a lifetime)." What few people know is that Shi Meilun chose to give up her American citizenship in order to go to work in Beijing.

But gearing technocrats encounter complex situations that don't usually go so well. Shi Meilun originally thought she was coming to work as a consultant, but Boss Zhu asked her to carry the burden.

After becoming the vice chairman of the mainland Securities Regulatory Commission, the first thing she had to face was the misconception that the mainland regarded the stock market as a casino and financing purpose. When Shi Meilun did training for mainland directors, she stressed that insider trading could not be done. As a result, a director at the scene asked, "Why should I be a director if I can't do insider trading?" "

At that time, A shares had just crossed 2000 points and were so bullish that no one realized the serious consequences of this market maker-driven stock market rally.

After all, Shi Meilun is used to seeing enchantments. In her first year in office, the CSRC issued 51 laws or regulations on securities regulation, initially establishing the framework of domestic regulatory regulations. at the same time, more than 80 listed companies and more than 10 intermediary agencies were publicly condemned, administratively punished, and even filed for investigation.

Yin Guangxia, Department of Chinese Science and Technology, Oriental Electronics and other stock kings who were once famous in the market at that time were beheaded one after another, Shi Meilun's reputation gradually revealed, and the makers were all frightened when they heard about the supervision of the Securities and Futures Commission. There are intertwined interests behind these bookmakers and listed companies, but Ms Shi has shown toughness and tenacity in the face of pressure.

In fact, Shi Meilun is also in the education market. In August 2001, the Securities Regulatory Commission launched an attack on the famous pharmaceutical company Sanjiu Group. The major shareholders and related parties of Sanjiu Group occupy more than 2.5 billion yuan of funds of listed companies, which is equivalent to 1.5 times of the amount raised by the stock market. Zhao Xinxian, the head of the company, was finally jailed. The father of the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine was once named one of the top ten figures in China's reform.

Only then did A-share investors understand that it was wrong for major shareholders to seize the funds of listed companies, which shows what a wild market Shi Meilun faced at that time.

Before investigating and dealing with Sanjiu Group, there was a voice within the Securities Regulatory Commission: would you like to say hello to the Central work Committee for large Enterprises, the administrative director of party affairs of Sanjiu Group? After all, Sanjiu Group was once a banner of state-owned enterprises. Shi Meilun stressed that the CSRC investigated the Sanjiu Group in accordance with the "Securities Law" and did not involve the question of who should be in charge.

This tough attitude soon led to a debate over whether Shi Meilun did not understand China's "national conditions". At first, it was muttered by professional circles, but with more and more stocks collapsing, lossmaking investors vented their anger on the leader who wanted to protect them.

As a matter of fact, many investors in the mainland do not care about the healthy operation of the enterprises. they only expect to be able to make money after the rise in share prices, and they are even looking everywhere for "good villages" with strong market control ability. Shi Meilun's various regulatory policies to regulate the market seem so anachronistic in the eyes of shareholders.

Shi Meilun's husband's surname is "Cha", so her first name is sometimes written "Cha Shi Meilun". As a result, mainland investors who are good at homophonic Terminals have given Shi Meilun a nickname: "kill you." At one point, the criticism of Shi Meilun even came to Boss Zhu. In the face of questions from the media, Boss Zhu made a decision:

We think she is doing very well, and she is a very strong person, especially in rectifying the order of the securities market. Don't say that Smellen will be attacked, and there are a lot more attacks on me than hers. This is nothing, this does not represent the views of the central government, nor does it represent the views of the majority of the people in the mainland. I think she did a good job.

The strong support of Boss Zhu has become the strength of Shi Meilun, setting up a sponsor examination system and an independent board system for A-shares. It can be said that they have done a lot of constructive work, but it is a pity that A shares have fallen all the way from 2200 to 1300. To say something inappropriate: the shareholders at that time were not worthy of such a good regulatory leader as Shi Meilun.

In 2003, Shi Meilun wanted to retire, but the senior leader personally asked to stay, and finally worked for another year. In September 2004, Shi Meilun announced: my job is done and I need to go home. As a result, the Prev soared 14% in the next six trading days-so Chinese investors saw off regulatory leaders who wanted to regulate the market.

No wonder Sze Meilun's secretary said, "she's so tired!" It's too hard! "

History will never forget meritorious officials, and leaders are often discerning. At the grand ceremony of the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up, when meeting with the Hong Kong and Macao delegation, the highest level specifically named Shi Meilun, "helping to establish a relevant regulatory system for the securities market," and praised her for making important contributions to the development of the mainland's market economy.

Shi Meilun, who returned to Hong Kong Village, continues to contribute to the field of financial regulation in Hong Kong, also known as Chief Executive Lin Zheng's financial think tank. In 2018, she was appointed chairman of the HKEx by the Hong Kong government, and she went through a cycle of history with Comrade Li Xiaojia, who is the chief executive of the HKEx.

Let me popularize the science here: the "chairman" and "president" of the HKEx are two different positions. Li Xiaojia has always been the president and has never been the chairman. There is a wide gap in salary between the two. I looked up the report for 2019 and found that Chairman Shi Meilun's annual salary was HK $4.61 million, while President Li Xiaojia's annual salary was HK $51.1 million.

On May 7, 2020, Li Xiaojia confirmed that he would step down as president next year, and Chairman Shi Meilun said he was recruiting a successor around the world. Before the new president is in place, Shi Meilun will obviously play a more important role in continuing Li Xiaojia's unfinished business: providing a "home" for stray Chinese stocks at a time when China and the United States begin to "decouple capital". Whether the home is temporary or permanent.

From the "capital isolation" at that time, but now the "capital decoupling", it seems that the mission of the HKEx in the course of history has never changed.

Part.3

On April 29, 1992, Li Yeguang, chairman of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, went to Beijing to meet Boss Zhu, who had just been appointed as vice premier.

Earlier, he submitted to Shangfeng a report written by his Hong Kong colleagues on the listing of mainland companies in Hong Kong through Liu Hongru, deputy director of the system Reform Commission. The initial opinion above is that state-owned enterprises should be cautious in listing in Hong Kong, and first of all, it is necessary to do a good job in the domestic Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets.

The Stock Exchange was not discouraged. Seeing that the atmosphere after the southern tour had taken on a new look, Li Yeguang decided to go to Beijing in person to present his feelings to Boss Zhu. After listening to the report, Boss Zhu immediately decided to choose about 10 state-owned enterprises to list in Hong Kong. Boss Zhu is not on a whim. Wang Jiming, director of the Shanghai Petrochemical Plant, an old acquaintance, has written to him several times in private. Now there are only two ways for enterprises to go public or the government takes on debts.

What made the project really RUN was the riot in Shenzhen on August 10 of the same year, and the mass incident triggered by millions of shareholders thoroughly made the central government realize the unreliability of China's stock market. At that time, many people put forward the opinion of the chief designer that "the stock market can be shut down if it is not doing well." after this battle, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange fell behind for several years.

Interestingly, a reporter who had witnessed the incident wrote an article entitled "millions of investors speculate in Shenzhen", which became an absolutely popular style at that time. The reporter's name was Luliang.

Two months after the 810 incident, the China Securities Regulatory Commission was established, and the first chairman of the CSRC was Liu Hongru, who docked with Li Yeguang. The reform of state-owned enterprises needs funds, and the mainland securities market is still immature and embarrassing. Allowing mainland enterprises to list in Hong Kong has become the call of the times, and the policy is to let it go as long as it can. Under the circumstances that the "Company Law" and the "Securities Law" are not yet mature, H shares have been launched so vigorously.

Li Yeguang later recalled that H shares were decided by Boss Zhu himself, and there were three options at that time: W shares (World), H shares (Hong Kong) and I shares (International). Boss Zhu thanked his Hong Kong compatriots for their support and appointed the title of H shares. The Stock Exchange also returned the favor by giving the first H-share Tsing Tao Beer the most auspicious code (00168).

At that time, the system was not perfect, so we had to rely on good troops and strong men to deal with it. Shi Meilun traveled in Beijing and Hong Kong for two years, while Li Xiaojia played an important role in the listing of CNOOC, China Mobile Limited and China Telecom Corporation. In that era of vicissitudes and fierce generals, leaders were also open and shrewd. Goldman Sachs Group's representative accompanied Tung Chee-hwa to Beijing to talk about the IPO of China Electric Power, and was amazed for many years by the saying that "assets equals liabilities + owners' equity".

However, it is the efforts of the Stock Exchange that play the most important role in the smooth launch of H shares. From planning to implementation, from the chairman to the staff, great efforts have been made. The mainland knows nothing about international standards, and Hong Kong compatriots hand-in-hand teach mainland companies securities knowledge, accounting, law firms, board secretaries, everything.

Of course, the returns are also generous. The launch of the H-share sector has made the Hong Kong stock market jump from a marginal market with a total market capitalization of less than 300 billion to the most important capital market in the Asia-Pacific region. Shi Meilun's summary is very good:"I recall that before the listing of state-owned enterprises in Hong Kong, Hong Kong was only a local market, with only 6 million people at that time. How big is such an economy?. Therefore, without mainland enterprises, Hong Kong would not be where it is today. "

HKEx has won an era for Hong Kong with its own efforts, but times have changed, and when the Lion Rock spirit has been gradually alienated, everything has changed.

In 2013, Li Xiaojia urged Hong Kong to allow BABA to go public with a "same share, different rights" structure, but there was a lot of resistance. Li Xiaojia wrote a diary of more than 5, 000 words, saying that he had dreamt about nine people, and everyone was crazy about whether Hong Kong could give BABA IPO the green light. After waking up, I have a conclusion that the Hong Kong listing system can be reasonably considered, and BABA should not be missed.

When the log was published, BABA co-founder Tsai Chongxin wrote an article: "as a Hong Kong resident, what I want to ask is: is the supervision of Hong Kong's capital market left behind by the rapidly changing world? or should we make changes for the future of Hong Kong's capital market and innovate quickly?! "

After BABA's listing, Shi Meilun was interviewed by the Hong Kong media. at a time of unrest on Hong Kong Island, the 65-year-old Shi Meilun said with helplessness and sadness. "some people think that the previous government was good, and those people were not born at that time. How do you know that Hong Kong Britain is good? "

After all, the process of the times must be promoted by the times. When Shi Meilun went to the Securities and Futures Commission, colleagues in Hong Kong sent her off with a word saying that Wei Zheng, a famous minister of Zhenguan, said, "if you are safe, you will not change her heart." However, when Shi Meilun later called the wind and rain in the SFC, she relied on more than a "Securities Law".

Although the HKEx, which actively embraces mainland capital, has a bright future, it is becoming more and more out of place in this tiny place. Therefore, the problem of Hong Kong is not the problem of the HKEx, and the future of the HKEx may not be the future of Hong Kong.