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26-10-2014, 11:16 PM
HSBC analyst quits in wake of Hong Kong downgrade
HARRY WILSON AND LEO LEWIS THE TIMES OCTOBER 27, 2014 12:00AM
AN HSBC analyst behind a controversial warning that protests in Hong Kong could lead to a fall in the value of the territory’s sharemarket has quit the bank.
Garry Evans, global head of equity strategy, will leave at the end of the year, only months after publishing a research report that drew widespread criticism for seeming to suggest HSBC was against the protest movement.
In an internal memo sent to staff, the bank confirmed Mr Evans’ departure after 16 years. It said it had been Mr Evans’ decision to leave. It is understood he has not been a named contributor on research notes published by the bank since September 24.
In early July, some months before pro-democracy protesters had followed through on their threats and occupied two of the largest highways in central Hong Kong, Mr Evans and his research team released a hefty research note to HSBC clients, downgrading Hong Kong-listed stocks on the basis the Occupy Central movement could generate “negative news flow”.
Mr Evans’ team predicted, with some accuracy given the past four weeks, that a widespread civil disobedience movement could generate friction between Hong Kong and the mainland Chinese government in Beijing. It remains unclear, however, whether Hong Kong has suffered the sort of economic fallout Mr Evans warned about and, after a substantial rally and a rout, the Hang Seng index is more or less exactly where it was when the note was published.
The July downgrade comment ran to only two sentences and was buried on page 23 of an 84-page quarterly strategy report.
One senior fund manager in Hong Kong described the tome as “the sort of document you would maybe skim, rather than read every word”.
However, it landed in investors’ inboxes at a sensitive time, when Hong Kong’s tycoons appeared to be using their weight to crush the democracy movement before it had flowered.
The Times
HARRY WILSON AND LEO LEWIS THE TIMES OCTOBER 27, 2014 12:00AM
AN HSBC analyst behind a controversial warning that protests in Hong Kong could lead to a fall in the value of the territory’s sharemarket has quit the bank.
Garry Evans, global head of equity strategy, will leave at the end of the year, only months after publishing a research report that drew widespread criticism for seeming to suggest HSBC was against the protest movement.
In an internal memo sent to staff, the bank confirmed Mr Evans’ departure after 16 years. It said it had been Mr Evans’ decision to leave. It is understood he has not been a named contributor on research notes published by the bank since September 24.
In early July, some months before pro-democracy protesters had followed through on their threats and occupied two of the largest highways in central Hong Kong, Mr Evans and his research team released a hefty research note to HSBC clients, downgrading Hong Kong-listed stocks on the basis the Occupy Central movement could generate “negative news flow”.
Mr Evans’ team predicted, with some accuracy given the past four weeks, that a widespread civil disobedience movement could generate friction between Hong Kong and the mainland Chinese government in Beijing. It remains unclear, however, whether Hong Kong has suffered the sort of economic fallout Mr Evans warned about and, after a substantial rally and a rout, the Hang Seng index is more or less exactly where it was when the note was published.
The July downgrade comment ran to only two sentences and was buried on page 23 of an 84-page quarterly strategy report.
One senior fund manager in Hong Kong described the tome as “the sort of document you would maybe skim, rather than read every word”.
However, it landed in investors’ inboxes at a sensitive time, when Hong Kong’s tycoons appeared to be using their weight to crush the democracy movement before it had flowered.
The Times