A CLSA executive has been reportedly let go after proposing to move the firm’s marquee annual conference away from Hong Kong to Singapore.
Hong Kong brokerage CLSA's global head of corporate access Kai Kaufmann was asked to leave the firm this month, according to a «Bloomberg» report citing unnamed sources.
The departure followed Kaufmann’s submission of a plan suggesting to move its annual conference from Hong Kong to Singapore. In addition to tripling costs from $1 million in a virtual gathering to $3-5 million for an in-person event in Singapore, senior managers at the Citic-owned brokerage were also skeptical about the move with the relocation potentially having contributed to the objection, the report added.
Kaufmann joined CLSA in 2019 after more than a decade with Deutsche Bank to lead corporate access and client strategy. On top of Kaufmann’s redundancy, Beijing parent Citic Securities also restructured his team by combining its corporate access group with the research department, and client strategy with sales.
Flagship Forum
The Citic CLSA Flagship Investors’ Forum is one of Hong Kong’s most anticipated financial conferences, typically attracting around 1,500 institutional investors globally as attendees. The event has been running for almost three decades and has featured renowned speakers including George Clooney, Bill Clinton, Alan Greenspan, Kylie Minogue and more.
This year, the event will be held virtually from September 13 to 16.
