Hong Kong Investors and Listed Companies Clash Over Board Director Independence Amid Market Operator’s Proposed Limit

Investors and public companies in Hong Kong are battling for autonomy concerning board directors. The spotlight is now on independent non-executive directors following a suggestion by the stock market operator to cap the number of positions they can occupy.

One Sunday evening in June 2019, Abraham Razack found himself in a predicament. The visuals he had seen on the television news earlier that day had left him disturbed.

Razack, currently 79 years old, believed that the extraordinary public display of emotion from the city's inhabitants marked the onset of a phenomenon that "wouldn't conclude in the near future, and it was poised to negatively impact the economy," he expressed in a conversation with the Post last week.

Indeed, that particular Sunday marked the start of numerous months of demonstrations – sometimes violent, others necessitating police involvement – that initiated Hong Kong's plunge into economic stagnation. This was followed by three years of the Covid-19 pandemic, which worsened the economic slump. Hong Kong, to this day, has not completely bounced back.