US Fund Manager Supports Quarterly Reporting Proposals For HK Firms

by Mary Swire, for LawAndTax-News.com, Hong Kong

25 September 2003

Speaking to the South China Morning Post this week, State Street Global Advisors chairman and chief executive, Timothy Harbert revealed that he supports recently revived plans for a consultation on the adoption of quarterly reporting for listed companies in Hong Kong.

Suggesting that the SAR should drop its semi-annual reporting regime if it wants to attract more international investors, Mr Harbert explained that:

"Many overseas investors and pension fund managers would like to have quarterly results...Investors should be able to have more information to make a better investment decision." He continued:

"Numbers do not lie, people do. Two plus two is always four. As pension fund managers, we do find a lot of our clients would like to access company results on a quarterly basis."

The State Street Global Advisors boss also announced his support for parallel proposals on the disclosure of company directors' pay.

"It makes sense to disclose the directors' pay by name, as sometimes the pay scale is completely out of line with the return to shareholders," he told the SCMP.

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