Bonnie Y Chan will take over as the new chief of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) on March 1, two months ahead of schedule. Separately, Singapore-based Circle has appointed former Gojek and Coinbase executive Justin Choi as its CFO.
Bonnie Chan to take over as HKEX’s chief ahead of schedule
The Hong Kong bourse, or Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), announced on Wednesday that Bonnie Y Chan will take over as its first female CEO on March 1—two months ahead of schedule.
The bourse had announced in December last year that the current chief Nicolas Aguzin will step down in May 2024, and will not seek an extension of his contract. “Aguzin has informed the Board of Directors of HKEX that, as the transition has been proceeding smoothly and effectively, he believes it would be in the interest of HKEX to accelerate the change in leadership,” the exchange said in a statement on Wednesday.
The transition marks an end to Aguzin’s three-year tenure as chief executive, during which he had to deal with the fallouts of COVID-19, as well as other economic, and geopolitical headwinds.
Aguzin, a former JP Morgan banker, took the helm of HKEX, one of the world’s largest stock exchanges, in mid-2021, when it was witnessing high trading volumes, mainly through the stock connect schemes, which link the Hong Kong bourse with mainland markets.
Chan, who currently leads the bourse’s listing division, will have to navigate many of the same challenges as her predecessor. From the second quarter of 2021 to the third of 2022, HKEX suffered six consecutive year-on-year declines in quarterly net profit.
HKEX, which previously benefited from big Chinese companies raising capital in Hong Kong, has suffered since late 2020 when Beijing cracked down on industries including technology and education, which weakened investor confidence.
SG-based Circle makes key appointments
Sequoia-backed telecommunications company Circle has appointed former Gojek and Coinbase executive Justin Choi as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
As the CFO, Choi will spearhead capital allocation and corporate strategy, scale financial operations, identify new growth opportunities, and drive strategic acquisitions at Circle. In June last year, he was appointed as the CEO of Singapore expense management startup Spenmo but resigned after a month.
Circle has also appointed Bart Weijermars as Chief Customer Success Officer (CCSO) and Luke Lu as Chief People Officer (CPO).
Weijermars will be in charge of building customer partnerships and supporting operations for a growing global client base while in the role of CPO, Lu will be responsible for attracting, developing, and retaining top talent.
Founded in 2014, Circles is a global technology company reimagining the telco industry with its SaaS platform Circles X. The company is backed by Sequoia, Warburg Pincus, EDBI and Founders Fund.