HKEx listing chief Williams beats Chow to the door after 6-year stint

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing head of listings Richard Williams is leaving to return to Britain after a lucrative six-year stint with the bourse.

The exchange yesterday said Mr Williams was leaving for family reasons but some brokers speculated the recent drop in new listings as well as a desire to quit before chief executive Paul Chow Man-yiu retires in 2010 were the real motivations.

While Mr Williams (right) decided not to renew his three-year employment contract when it expires at the end of next month, he agreed to stay on for five more months to allow the bourse to find a successor.

'Mr Williams may be leaving because Paul Chow has declared he will retire in two years,' said Kenny Lee Yiu-sun, the chairman of the Hong Kong Stockbrokers Association. 'Mr Williams has worked with Mr Chow and they are a good team. He may not want to work with a new boss.'

Mr Lee also believed Mr Williams' stock options in the exchange had earned him a fortune. Mr Williams last year earned an annual salary and bonus of HK$8.16 million, according to the HKEx's latest annual report.

The report showed he had exercised 273,500 of his 547,000 share options last year at HK$12.45 each. Assuming he had sold those shares at their peak of HK$268 in November last year, he would have earned HK$69.89 million.