Some may view him as an auditing pioneer and investment banking legend. Others call him a marketer lacking substance and a fraudster. Few will describe him as plain. finews.asia takes a look at the life and times of AMTD Group chair Calvin Choi.

AMTD Group chair Calvin Choi has been launched into the media spotlight after the firm’s digital unit saw its share price skyrocket more than 32,000 percent following its initial public offering in the US. The price movement is inexplicable as AMTD Digital’s market capitalization topped $400 billion at one point, surpassing corporate giants like Walmart and Exxon Mobil, despite the firm recording just $25 million in annual revenue last year. 

And in the latest, Choi, alongside AMTD Group, was reportedly being investigated by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) as early as November over the Hong Kong investment bank's deal arrangements. This is on top of Choi's ongoing appeal against the SFC’s decision to ban him from the securities industry for two years over what the regulator said were conflicts of interest during his time as a UBS dealmaker. 

Auditing Pioneer

Choi was born in Hong Kong in 1978 and attended the city’s prestigious La Salle College before moving to Canada where he completed his secondary education and graduated from the University of Waterloo with a major in accounting. He returned to Hong Kong thereafter and kicked off his career by at PwC where he was named a senior manager for the Hong Kong and Beijing offices’ audit departments. 

As one of the first Hongkongers to engage in auditing services in mainland China following the 1997 handover, Choi became closely acquainted with the country’s banking sector, having provided advice on internal controls, risk management and corporate governance for various top financial firms. He led or participated in the annual audits of Bank of Communications, Bank of China, Bank of China (Hong Kong), China Minsheng Bank and JP Morgan China.

Banking Career

In 2005, Choi would try his hand at banking, starting with Citigroup as the head of its China strategic alliance unit as well as China chief specialist. He rejoined PwC briefly as director of the Hong Kong corporate finance department in 2009 before shifting to UBS in 2010 as the managing director of the investment banking department and member of the APAC family office committee.

It was here at the Swiss banking giant that Choi first became the subject of controversy.

SFC Ban

Earlier this year, it was unveiled that the SFC ordered a two-year ban against Choi from the securities industry over conflicts of interest while he was a UBS banker in 2014 and 2015 after an application for anonymity in an appeal was rejected. 

This relates to a share sale deal at AMTD Group in which Choi was acting as the financial advisor for sellers including major shareholder Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia. The SFC found that Choi was involved with one of the buyers, LR Capital Group, while he «directed the decision-making» for the sale and «exceeded the scope of a typical coverage banker» without disclosing such potential conflicts of interest to Morgan Stanley or UBS. According to filings with corporate registries in the Cayman Islands and Hong Kong, Choi’s father held a stake in subsidiary LR Capital Management until December 2021.

Choi's appeal against the SFC’s ban is scheduled for December. 

Minsheng Controversy

Shortly after the Morgan Stanley sale, Choi left UBS to become the chairman of AMTD Group in 2016 where he was mandated to diversify the firm away from insurance brokering to investment banking, asset management and financial technology.

In addition to LR Capital Management, China Minsheng Investment Group (CMIG) was the other major buyer of AMTD in 2015 and it accused the firm and Choi in 2020 of financial fraud over alleged misappropriation of funds. CMIG even publicly denounced Choi via banners posted throughout Hong Kong’s central business district, according to a «Caixin» report, though it is unclear if any further legal action was taken. 

Choi denied the accusations and said at the time that he reserves the right himself to take legal action. 

AMTD Digital

In 2022, Choi has once again entered the spotlight following the meteoric rise of AMTD Digital’s stock price which at one point made him Hong Kong’s richest individual on paper, according to estimates by «Forbes», surpassing tycoon Li Ka-Shing whose CK Hutchison founded AMTD Group in 2003 alongside Commonwealth Bank of Australia. 

Interestingly, Choi’s career is once again tied with auditing. After starting his career in the field, he is now a major shareholder of AMTD Digital's parent, AMTD IDEA, which is one of the companies at risk of being delisted from the US exchange for failing inspection by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB).

Ample Doubters

Unsurprisingly, Choi has attracted a number of detractors who place doubts not only on the means of his rise but also on his future and potential downfall.

According to a «Financial Times» report citing an individual involved in due diligence on AMTD, Choi is a «master marketer» with the ability to get close to major institutions like the Monetary Authority of Singapore and political figures like ex-Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam (he attempted to join the city’s 1,500-person electorate to pick the next leader but was rejected by the vetting committee).

«[B]ut it was always style over substance,» the source said.

Separately, insiders at CMIG said that at least one senior executive believes that some AMTD projects made money but profits were not shared and the firm’s management vowed to «send Choi to jail» if he failed to return its funds.