biz.hk Jun 2013

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N GU PR CIA IDE OV L S TO ID ER ER VI S CE

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Journal of The American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong

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Greenfield Sites

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SAT Long Waiting List National Curriculum English Schools Foundation Direct Subsidy Scheme Long Waiting List Chinese Culture English Speaking English Schools Foundation Admission Interviews Chinese Culture

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COVER SPONSOR

ble a l i a v A h

Marc

3 1 0 2

Your Best Guidebook for Settling in Hong Kong Living in Hong Kong is a compendium-style all-you-need-to-know guide for newcomers to

school, getting settled when arrived and enjoying life in Hong Kong. This consumeroriented book is designed as a sort of “hotline� with useful phone numbers and contacts to other sources of help.

Living in Hong Kong bookshops in Hong Kong. AmCham members often buy the book for their relatives and Americans), the book is one of the best-selling publications for AmCham.

Contact: AmCham Publication Department Advertising Manager: Regina Leung Direct Line: 2530 6942 Email: rleung@amcham.org.hk

June 2013 Vol 45 No 6

Contents Myanmar

Richard R Vuylsteke

12

08

Publisher

30

26

Editor-in-Chief

COVER STORY

EDUCATION

LAW

CSR

Managing Editor

A report on the shortage of international school places and how it affects expatriate and local students alike – and potentially Hong Kong’s competitiveness as an international business center down the road

English Schools Foundation Chief Executive Heather Du Quesnay tells in a farewell interview of what lies ahead for Hong Kong’s largest provider of international education

New York University law professor Jerome Cohen talks about China’s positioning on maritime disputes with its neighbors and a possible solution to the current gridlock

Bruce Fox of AGS Four Winds International Movers discusses how some industries have been able to embrace the concept of sustainability more completely than others

Daniel Kwan Kenny Lau

Advertising Sales Manager Regina Leung

biz.hk is a monthly magazine of news and views for management executives and members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.

Its contents are independent and do not necessarily reflect the views of officers, governors or members of the Chamber.

Advertising office 1904 Bank of America Tower 12 Harcourt Rd, Central, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2530 6900 Fax: (852) 2537 1682 Email: amcham@amcham.org.hk Website: www.amcham.org.hk Printed by Ease Max Ltd 2A Sum Lung Industrial Building 11 Sun Yip St, Chai Wan, Hong Kong (Green Production Overseas Group) Designed by Overa Creative Co Unit 1613, 16/F Workingbond Commercial Centre 162 Prince Edward Road West, Kowloon ©The American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, 2013 Library of Congress: LC 98-645652

AMCHAM NEWS AND VIEWS 04 Editorial The reasons Hong Kong as an international city needs to be able to provide sufficient international school places for expatriate children and to strengthen the local educational system

07 New Business Contacts 42 executives joined AmCham’s business network last month

36 Mark Your Calendar

17 The Beginning of A New Future Karin Ann, co-founder of International Montessori School, talks about the permanent site in Stanley recently granted by the government and how her school is moving forward in expanding its capacity

20 Permanent Premises Granted for Future Development Principal of Carmel School Rachel Friedmann speaks in a conversation how the site in Shau Kei Wan will enable through-train education for students aged from 1 to 18

22 Nord Anglia Education – The British Offering

COVER STORY 08 The Shortage of International School Places (and Weakness of the Local Education System) The government has finally admitted that Hong Kong has a shortage of international school places and pledged to increase supply as a shortage and weakness of the local system are weakening Hong Kong’s competitiveness

Chief Executive Officer Andrew Fitzmaurice explains the rationale behind making foray into Hong Kong by opening its first school in the territory and how local students can benefit

LAW 26 A Possible Solution to China’s Maritime Disputes: UNCLOS

12 “Fought the Good Fight” Outgoing English Schools Foundation Chief Executive Heather Du Quesnay tells in one of her farewell interviews of what lies ahead for Hong Kong’s largest provider of international education

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 30 Moving Sustainability Bruce Fox, Head of Business Development for AGS Four Winds International Movers, discusses how some industries have been able to embrace the concept more completely than others

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 32 Understanding Restructuring and Turnarounds in Asia Turnaround specialist Robert Fonow writes about the underlying concepts of turning a failed business around and what human factors to watch out for

FINANCIAL SERVICES 34 Structured Products: The Good, The Ugly and The Reality Veteran banker Warren Kwan who pioneered the design of structured products in Asia a decade ago shares his views about the controversial instrument

New York University law professor Jerome Cohen talks in detail about China’s positioning on maritime disputes with its neighbors and shares his insights on a solution and obstacles in the current gridlock

For comments, please send to biz.hk@amcham.org.hk Single copy price HK$50 Annual subscription HK$600/US$90

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COVER SPONSOR

biz.hk Editorial

Board of Governors Chairman James Sun Vice Chairman Peter Levesque Treasurer Tom Burns Executive Committee Evan Auyang, Janet De Silva, Anita Leung Philip Leung , Belinda Lui, Alan Turley Richard Weisman Governors Sara Yang Bosco, Brian Brenner, Ewan Copeland Walter Dias, Rob Glucksman, Toby Marion Jim Muschalik, Thomas Nelson Catherine Simmons, Colin Tam Elizabeth L Thomson , Frank Wong, Eden Woon Ex-Officio Governor President

Robert Chipman Richard R Vuylsteke

Chamber Committees AmCham Ball Apparel & Footwear China Business Communications & Marketing

Rex Engelking Andre Leroy Seth Peterson Lili Zheng Roxana Daver

Corporate Social Responsibility

Robert Grieves

Energy Entrepreneurs/SME Environment

Rick Truscott Donald Austin Courtney Davies Corey Franklin Brock Wilson Veronica Sze Damien Lee Peter Liu

Financial Services Food & Beverage Hospitality & Tourism Human Capital Information & Communications Technology Insurance & Healthcare

Rex Engelking

Owen Belman Hanif Kanji Intellectual Property Gabriela Kennedy Amy Lee Law Clara Ingen-Housz Pharmaceutical Stephen Leung Real Estate Neil Anderson Alan Seigrist Senior Financial Forum Alvin Miyasato Senior HR Forum Jacqueline Algar Sports & Entertainment Ian Stirling Taxation David Weisner Trade & Investment Patrick Wu Transportation & Logistics Jared Zerbe Women of Influence Anne-Marie Balfe Anna-Marie C Slot Young Professionals Alison Carroll

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TWIN ISSUES

H

uman capital is often cited as the biggest asset for businesses.

Businesses need high caliber talent to thrive; without it they crash and burn.

Successful managers need keen business insights, leadership skills, and a competitive spirit. Employees need relevant skill sets, good teamwork capabilities, and genuine emotional intelligence. As businesses increasingly become international, they now need more people with multiple language skills. In Asia, Hong Kong people have gained a reputation for being able to speak three languages – Cantonese, English, and Putonghua – and this has for many years been a reason why businesses have chosen Hong Kong as their springboard into and out of China.

But in the past decade or so, that trump card seems to be losing value.

Increasingly, HR managers express worries over the language capabilities of local graduates. Their quality is simply not up to international standards. Not only English proficiency is an issue. Local graduates apparently have slipped in the other languages as well.

This is happening at the same time that businesses are becoming more globalized and therefore demanding greater eloquence and clarity in spoken and written language skills. The result? Local graduates are becoming less competitive.

To be fair, Hong Kong universities

are in many respects among the best in the world. Their prestigious global rankings are proofs that they are as competitive – if not more so – as their overseas counterparts. In fact, they are attracting international students worldwide and some of the world’s leading institutions – Savannah College of Art and Design, for example – have opened new campuses in Hong Kong. So, what’s the problem?

Many point to falling language standards in primary and secondary level local schools. One indication that this is true comes from parents. More and more local parents are looking to international schools as their preferred source of education for their children.

Precise statistics are difficult to obtain, but a recent government consultancy report suggests that roughly 23 to 26 percent of the student population of international schools in Hong Kong are local – up from around 11 percent more than a decade ago.

On one hand, this fact should be welcomed. It means that Hong Kong international schools have a rich and positive mix of local and international students, which in itself helps prepare students for a more international life and work style. Hong Kong has distinguished itself from other Asian cities largely because it has embraced this sort of diversity and inclusive culture.

On the other hand, the increase of local students in international schools raises a capacity issue. Hong Kong is drawing an increasing number of

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expatriates to its international businesses, which means more children from overseas.

As an international city, Hong Kong needs to be able to provide sufficient international school places for expatriate children who for obvious reasons cannot be educated in the local, Cantonese-based system.

Although their inflow may fluctuate as markets change, the availability of school places is a constant must-have as far as international assignment deals are concerned. Unless Hong Kong can assure assignees that there are school places for their children, they will be reluctant to relocate.

Hong Kong needs more international school places, and it needs to strengthen the local educational system. One near-term way to help meet both requirements is to select a number of local schools capable of upgrading their language instruction and curriculum to the standards needed by expatriates as well as local parents who want an internationalstandards education for their children.

These targeted local schools should be located in diverse parts of Hong Kong and be encouraged to evolve into a level of excellence that will be attractive to the many expatriate parents who want their children to have a multi-language educational environment. Such a development will also build a larger source of qualified graduates to staff Hong Kong’s international businesses.

biz.hk 6 • 2013

5

New

Business Contacts

w w w. a m c h a m . o r g . h k

The following people are new AmCham members: Ann Taylor Sourcing Far East Ltd

Gensler Hong Kong Limited

Qineticare Ltd

Liisa Fiedelholtz SVP

Callum MacBean Principal, Managing Director

AzureTax Limited

Grand Hyatt Hong Kong

Lydia Tang Senior Tax Manager Deborah Annells Managing Director

PhilipYu General Manager

Zeynep Incekara General Manager Julie Chiu Wellness Director Feisal Alibhai Founder & CEO

Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Schneider Electric (Hong Kong) Ltd

Citibank NA David Weisner US Tax Counsel for Asia Pacific

CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd

Over 500 pages in three major sections, including a complete guide to chamber services, corporate sponsors and AmCham Charitable Foundation. This directory lists over 1,800 members from over 700 companies and organizations.

ISBN 978-962-7422-18-1

LC 98-645651

Jim Taylor Head of Strategic Planning & Regulatory Affairs Thomas Lui Senior Engineering Manager - Commercial Helen Chiu Senior Environment Manager

Concur Technologies Alex Tsang Business Development Manager, Asia Boonthai Hoh Regional Director, Asia

Copper Communications Lind Garrett President

Georgina Chan-Tan Director of Institute of Advanced Executive Education

Hongkong Sales (Knitwear) Ltd Norman Ng Vice Chairman

KPMG Malcolm Prebble Senior Manager, Tax Practice

Leedarson Richard Liu Account Executive, Business Development Manager, North America

Li & Fung Group David Lambert Vice President

Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy

Mark Cosgrove Director of Training

Desiree Woo Of Counsel Andrew Compton Senior Associate Gary Wigmore Partner

Dechert LLP

Nature Conservancy, The

David Chu Partner William "Ned" Dodds Registered Foreign Lawyer Basil Hwang Managing Partner

Monique Kuo Associate Director, Strategic Development

ERM Hong Kong Limited

Oracle Systems Hong Kong Limited

Dale Carnegie Training

Eric Xie President

Sealed Air Hong Kong Limited Larry Wong Business Leads Flora Chan Strategic Accounts Director Connie Tan VP - Strategic Account AMAT

Shamdasani Foundation, The Haresh Shamdasani Trustee

Sino Private Aviation (HK) Ltd Ringo Fan Business Development Manager

SOW (Asia) Foundation Ltd Moonkyung Kim Senior Advisor

Syracuse University Hong Kong Joffre Chan Director

The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Ltd

Sean Purdie Managing Partner - Power, Asia Pacific

Nu Skin Enterprises Hong Kong, Inc Patrick Yeung President

Jerry Tang Sales Manager, Systems Sales

Bharath Bangalore Director of Finance, The Peninsula Hotel

Transpacific IP Limited Billy Lam Vice President, Business Development

Wells Fargo Bank NA John Gough SVP/Head of Corporates Asia Pacific, Global Banking

View our other members at:

http://www.amcham.org.hk/index.php/AmChamMembers.html

biz.hk 6 • 2013

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COVER STORY

SAT

Chinese Culture

Putonghua Chinese Culture

Direct Subsidy Scheme

SEN

National Curriculum

International Baccalaureate Greenfield Sites

Vacant School Premises

Direct Subsidy Scheme

English Schools Foundation

T

Debentures

SEN

International Baccalaureate

Vacant School Premises

International Schools

English Schools Foundation

English Schools Foundation

Chinese Culture

Admission Interviews

Direct Subsidy Scheme

THE SHORTAGE OF SAT INTERNATIONAL SAT SCHOOL PLACES Long Waiting List Interim Schools AND International Baccalaureate WEAKNESS OF THE LOCAL SEN EDUCATION SYSTEM

Greenfield Sites

Putonghua

Chinese Culture

Chinese Culture

Chinese Culture

Greenfield Sites

Putonghua

Chinese Culture

English Speaking

English Schools Foundation

Chinese Culture

National Curriculum

International Schools

International Baccalaureate

International Schools

Direct Subsidy Scheme

Chinese Culture

Chinese Culture

Greenfield Sites

Vacant School Premises Chinese Culture

Direct Subsidy Scheme

English Speaking

Vacant School Premises

Interim Schools

Direct Subsidy Scheme

Admission Interviews

Chinese Culture

English Schools Foundation

Interim Schools

Interim Schools

Direct Subsidy Scheme

English Speaking

International Baccalaureate

Direct Subsidy Scheme

Direct Subsidy Scheme

SAT

Chinese Culture

English Speaking

Chinese Culture

International Baccalaureate

Interim Schools Direct Subsidy Scheme

Admission Interviews Direct Subsidy Scheme

SEN

Chinese Culture

International Schools English Schools Foundation

Admission Interviews

Greenfield Sites ted y admit ll a n fi s f t ha rtage o International Schools ernmen s a sho a The gov h Direct Subsidy Scheme d Chinese Culture n g a n ng Ko laces that Ho al school p e Putonghua Katherin on supply. internati e a s a m e r m c e to in e dil English Speaking pledged ines th m a x e e shortth r e w ti o s h e r Fo SAT Long es and local ong fac of the s s e n Hong K k Waiting List ’s the wea g Kong ing Hon age and n e Chinese Culture Direct Subsidy Scheme k a e are w International Baccalaureate system th g n tive stre competi English Schools Foundation Greenfield Sites International Schools

Long Waiting List

Greenfield Sites

Debentures

National Curriculum

Vacant School Premises

International Schools

Vacant School Premises

Direct Subsidy Scheme

Chinese Culture

International Baccalaureate National Curriculum Direct Subsidy Scheme

Debentures Admission Interviews

Greenfield Sites Chinese Culture

Vacant School Premises

Direct Subsidy Scheme

Vacant School Premises

Greenfield Sites

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Chinese Culture

SEN

Vacant School Premises

Interim Schools

English Schools Foundation

International Baccalaureate

International Baccalaureate English Schools Foundation

International Schools English Schools Foundation

International Baccalaureate

Vacant School Premises

International Baccalaureate

SEN biz.hk 6 • 2013

he Hong Kong government has finally acknowledged that there is a problem. The demand for international school places is racing ahead of supply, and action is needed to bridge the shortfall.

The admission came after years of lobbying by chambers of commerce, including AmCham, that the lack of places was not just frustrating for individual families, but threatened Hong Kong’s future competitiveness as an international city.

The government responded by commissioning a consultant to study both the current situation and future demand, and in April reported the findings to the Legislative Council.

The study showed that with the opening of new schools and the expansion of existing ones, there has been a 59 percent growth in provision of school places between 2001-02 and 2011-2012, from just under 31,000 places, to 49,183. These figures include international schools, English Schools Foundation (ESF) schools, as well as schools that received capital funding under the Private Independent Schools scheme and offered non-local curricula.

But, despite an estimated 6,000 places coming on stream in the next five years, projected growing demand is still expected to exceed supply by at least 4,200 places, according to the report.

A survey of businesses indicated that there was likely to be a net inflow of staff whose children would need school places from outside of Hong Kong of 13 percent. One in five of the 3,015 respondents indicated that the availability of international school places was an important factor affecting their decisions to expand their Hong Kong operations, or to relocate.

The consultancy report also confirmed that one of the key reasons for the shortage of places was the increasing numbers of local families who were turning to international schools for their children’s education.

The proportion of local children enrolled in these schools had increased

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from around 11 percent in 2001-02, to 26 percent at primary level and 23 percent at secondary, a decade later.

“Most of them are attracted by the flexible and interactive learning as well as the opportunities for their children to improve English proficiency,” the EDB paper states, defining local families as those not holding any foreign (except the British National Overseas) passports.

Many believe that the number of local permanent residents in international schools is in fact much higher.

Long waiting list The consultants however also confirmed previous EDB assertions that there were places available within the system. Overall, it found that just over a quarter of primary schools and half of secondary schools were operating at below 80 percent of their available provision.

tional provision by awarding three former local school campuses in Kowloon and the New Territories to international operators. These are expected to accommodate 1,700 children, including 1,150 at primary.

Nord Anglia Education, which runs a global network of 14 schools but is new to Hong Kong, will have one of the sites.

The others will accommodate the expansions of Carmel School and the International Montessori School of Hong Kong. A fourth site has yet to be allocated. (See reports from page 16) The EDB also indicated that it planned to allocate further vacant school premises and greenfield sites in Kowloon and the New Territories to meet the projected shortfall. It asserts that the majority of families using international schools live in those areas, even though Hong Kong Island is most popular with expatriates and waiting lists are longest for most schools on the island.

4,200

nal Projected number of internatio ing eed school places in demand exc supply in the next five years

The issue is that those spaces are not in the most popular schools, with the greatest shortage at lower primary level. Schools such as Hong Kong International School, Canadian International Schools, Chinese International School, and the English Schools Foundation schools are all heavily oversubscribed. The ESF, for example, had a waiting list earlier this year of more than 7,300, triple the number of 2008.

The government has acknowledged the importance of expanding interna-

An EDB spokesperson says that the bureau is addressing the issue by identifying new sites and encouraging schools to make better use of their premises.

“We have recently written to international schools, appealing to them to utilize the maximum class size so as to ensure effective use of land resources and premises, to accord higher priority to children from overseas families who come to Hong Kong with their parents and to accept

9

children from overseas families whose mother-tongue are not English,” she says.

“We also suggest international schools consider devising an allocation mechanism such that a certain proportion of places would be earmarked for children whose parents are recruited or relocated from outside Hong Kong.”

The twin issue Janet De Silva, chair of the Education Affairs Group of the American Chamber of Commerce, said that the government should be commended for taking steps to address the issue.

However, she did not believe that the increased places would solve the problem, because demand from local families was growing faster than supply.

“We believe that a fundamental contribution to the shortage of international places is that parents who could choose local schools are opting for international schools because the quality of English is better,” she says.

“We do remain concerned about international school places, and are also equally concerned about the improvements required in the local system, particularly in the quality of English language education.

“Those who remain in the local sector are not coming out with language standards required by international businesses. We are seeing high school graduates from the Mainland coming out with better academic and language capabilities than local students.”

The twin issues: the shortage of international places and the weakness of the local system are impacting Hong Kong’s competitiveness. “It is not good for the economy or Hong Kong people.

This is not just an elitist complaint,” she says.

Many selected candidates for employment in Hong Kong were unable to make the move, because they could not find the type of school they wanted for their children. “Employers and recruiters say they are losing too many candidates because of the lack of school places,” De Silva says. This also makes succession planning difficult for

10

Janet De Silva

companies that cannot attract a younger demographic.

Other pressures on international places are that expatriates tend to stay in Hong Kong longer than previously, because of the shift in economic power to this region, while fewer parents send their children overseas to boarding schools, or delay that move until secondary level.

“There is no quick fix,” De Silva says.

Families need to be flexible and patient, while employers should manage expectations up front and explore opportunities to purchase corporate debentures. They could also consider providing allowances for a car and a driver, so children could access schools further away in the New Territories.

She advises families who are already in Hong Kong to ensure that young children develop the language and social skills needed to succeed in interviews for primary places, through quality pre-school education.

Interim schools Shaila Gidwani, Destination Team Leader, Crown World Mobility, tracks the school places situation and helps families moving to Hong Kong to find

schools. She says that places can be found, but not necessarily on Hong Kong Island, or in the schools that were first choices. “You have got to be flexible,” she says. Her role has been to show parents that there are alternatives outside of Hong Kong Island.

The greatest shortage, she says, is within the North American system, for places in the sought-after Hong Kong International School and Canadian International School.

The most recent admissions data also showed that places were tightest in Hong Kong Island and Discovery Bay, particularly at primary level, she adds.

Children are often place in what are known as “interim schools”, until their preferred options became available. She has also introduced parents to several new schools that were less well known, such as the Island Christian Academy in Soho, the Anfield British School in Tai Wai, and International College Hong Kong.

The shortage is not unique to Hong Kong. Executives moving to London or New York face similar problems, she said. The difference is that, in practice, expatriates do not have easy access to the local system, particularly if they are moving with older children who cannot speak Chinese.

She has not found local schools to be accommodating to in-coming parents looking for schools. “They are not flexible enough even to arrange school tours,” she says.

Nick Lambe, Managing Director of executive recruitment firm Morgan McKinley, also welcomes government moves to expand international education provision. “The government has had the right attitude in giving new land. They are going about it in the right way and need to continue so that Hong Kong is competitive.”

He says that difficulty finding school places is a factor for in-coming expatriates. However, he adds that in his experience it has not been a dealbreaker. “People are more open minded where they will send their children,” he says. “There are viable options.

“When people move over, the process seems rather daunting, but

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Photo: Thinkstock

invariably it works out. There may be some disruption where children are separated or not in the location they wanted.”

Lambe has three children under four and has managed to get the first into the ESF system, though it took time. “There are some very good international schools here, which makes it an attractive place to move to.”

Local schools Many parents remain daunted. And some international families, particularly those with Asian backgrounds, are prepared to try the local system. Sarah Burton is planning to send her two sons to local primary school, and then move them to an international school, possibly before the end of primary.

The shortage of places was one of the reasons. “I know the chance of getting into an international school or the English Schools Foundation is near zero so I plan for the boys to start in a

biz.hk 6 • 2013

local kindergarten,” she says.

By taking this route they would be able to adjust to a local primary school, says Burton, who is Chinese and married to an Australian working in the financial sector. They also want their children to have a good grounding in Chinese and think that a local school can produce better academic results.

But they are already planning the next move, to an international school.

“We want the boys to have better balance in their whole personal development and pathways to study in high school or university overseas,” says Burton. “I have heard Primary 5 or 6 in the local system is the maximum a non-local family can cope with and there are many places in international schools at that stage, as some students leave for overseas boarding school.”

The local system presents particular challenges for international children whose Chinese literacy skills do not match that of their local peers, as Sun Ya-li, an Australian, has found out. She

chose a Direct Subsidy Scheme secondary school for her Eurasian son, thinking he could have the best of both worlds – greater exposure to Chinese culture and language and an adapted curriculum for international children.

However, after a change of leadership in the school, such tailored provision has not materialized and her son is struggling with the local curriculum.

She fears he will not achieve Level 3 in Chinese language in the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education needed to get to university and is now hunting for alternatives.

“The problem is our children can never catch up in Chinese with the local students,” she says. Her son was also not adjusting well to the traditional teaching approaches. “All they are doing now is drilling for exams. Most of his friends hate going to school.

“You can go from local school to international, but not the other way round,” Sun says, adding that her son had attended an international primary school, which she criticized for being too relaxed in its academic standards and discipline, making it difficult for her son to handle the stricter DSS school.

The middle way is offered by some bilingual and bicultural schools such as ISF Academy. In early primary, 60 percent of teaching in this school is in Putonghua, with English introduced progressively until it becomes the main medium of instruction before children move on to secondary and International Baccalaureate programmes.

Children need good communication skills – in any language – to join its foundation year, but by Grade 2 this had to include the level of Putonghua and English for the year group, says Principal Dr Malcolm Pritchard. “We reject 80 to 90 percent of applications after Grade One because children either don’t have the Chinese or the English and it would be hard for them to catch up.”

The school is still popular with non-local families planning to remain in Hong Kong for the long haul.

“If you believe the 21st century is the Chinese century, then we are the right school,” Pritchard says.

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ESF will provide very good value for money.” Costs, including teachers’ remuneration, are now under tighter control to enable it to compete against other international schools.

Despite the subvention defeat, in the final weeks before her retirement she was confident about the ESF’s future as the largest provider of international education in Hong Kong and the region, and as a popular choice for parents. “I am not expecting the new policy to affect applications at all,” she said. “The way things are in Hong Kong, there will be a lot of people coming in and our applications are going up and up.”

She also emphasized that families with children currently in the system, and those starting in the next three academic years, would be protected from the new funding arrangements.

The ESF operates the 14 ESF schools that have received the subvention, two private independent schools, four kindergartens, and the Jockey Club Sarah Roe School (also subsidized). Together, ESF has around 17,000 students.

Du Quesnay is credited with successfully leading the ESF out of its turmoil erupted in 2004. She took the helm in 2005 and swiftly began to implement changes, starting with reform of its governance, ratified in a revision of the ESF Ordinance, and to put the organization on a sound financial footing – which included phasing out the colonial-style packages for its teachers.

“FOUGHT THE GOOD FIGHT” In one of her farewell interviews, outgoing English Schools Foundation Chief Executive Heather Du Quesnay tells Katherine Forestier what she sees ahead for Hong Kong’s largest provider of international education

Heather Du Quesnay

H

eather Du Quesnay has won many battles in the last eight years, but in her final months as Chief Executive of the English Schools Foundation she lost the one she had fought hardest for: the continued government subvention of the ESF. In June, the ESF finally unveiled its future without recurrent government funding for children entering its schools from 2016. After that, fees are expected to rise an estimated 23 percent

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in order to make up the shortfall.

Du Quesnay is disappointed that the government did not accept its argument of the need to continue the subvention that has enabled it in the past to keep its fees relatively low and more affordable for those on lower incomes.

The defeat “It will be tougher. We feel it is a great pity that the government was not prepared to recognize our case, which

was made very vigorously in terms of English as an official language of this city, and the need for children to be able to access good quality Englishmedium education at a price they could afford. The government just has not accepted the argument.

“Clearly fees are going to be higher for people who have to pay for themselves. But they will not be that bad.

Our primary schools will still be in the lower range of international schools, and the secondary will be about the middle,” she says. “I still believe the

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No regrets As someone who sees her strength in leading change in education, she has relished the challenge and leaves with no regrets.

Once the house was in order, she argued with government that the ESF’s subvention should continue.

Rather like fee-paying DSS schools, the subsidy was originally pegged at the level that government and aided schools received per pupil, but was frozen in 1999. The Education Bureau disagreed, insisting ESF schools

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should be treated like any other international school offering non-local curricula and should operate on a user-pays basis.

However, as part of the deal, the ESF will receive a capital grant worth around HK$270 million to rebuild the heavily worn Island School in Mid-Levels.

She is particularly sorry that there is no new settlement for subsidy of the ESF’s special needs provision, including the specialist Jockey Club Sarah Roe School for those with more severe difficulties and its learning support centers.

secondary schools switched from delivering British GCE A-levels as the main school-leaving qualification to the International Baccalaureate Diploma. IB results have steadily improved each year. Last year, 25 percent of the candidates achieved 40 points or more in the IB, compared with a worldwide average of 8.5 percent, with the average score increasing to 35.4, compared with 33.5 points in 2010, and ahead of the global average of 32.1. She also introduced the BTEC (Business and Technology Education

17,000 Total number of students enrolled in schools operated by ESF

Funding for this provision, capped at the 1999 level, has been left in place subject to the government’s wider review of special needs education. “But that funding, like the general subvention, has been whittled away by inflation over the years. We are about HK$22million short of the actual costs today, so as time goes on that position will become more challenging,” Du Quesnay said.

“It concerns me, because I think that the moral imperative [for children with learning disabilities] first and foremost lies with government. It will be pretty unfair if government is either not prepared to make provision and then expects ESF and ESF parents to shoulder the responsibility in financial terms.”

Other changes Du Quesnay looks back at other changes she oversaw. These include the introduction of an international curriculum when, in 2007, the ESF

Council) applied learning options as an alternative to the IB for those wanting a less academic pathway.

“We have our international curriculum in place and system of scrutiny and evaluation of the quality of schools which has international currency,” she says. The latter is through the Council of International Schools and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

She has sought to establish the ESF at the cutting edge of the development of international education in the region. “We are beginning to open up our programs to international schools in Hong Kong and indeed to local schools. We see ESF as developing a major professional development for hub for teachers, which should enhance Hong Kong’s reputation as an education hub.” It could share its strengths in the International Baccalaureate, enquiry-based learning, leadership development, and teaching and learning in all its aspects, she said.

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New admission policy

She has also overseen the introduction of a new admissions policy, which reflects the changing identify of the organization.

Under the new system, which will be introduced in August 2013, places will be offered on the basis of students’ performance in English language tests and a parental statement and interviews to ensure they are committed to an ESF-style education. Children of staff, siblings, those holding nomination rights, and children of alumni enjoy priority, but not those in ESF kindergartens.

The parental interview will not be too onerous. “There will be a conversation with parents to check what they have said in their statements, and to try to begin a bonding process between parents and schools,” she said.

The new system replaces the categorizing of students by language spoken at home, which gave priority to those from English-speaking families.

This was much criticized as being discriminatory and impossible to verify. The new system created a more level playing field, Du Quesnay says.

In-coming expatriates will have an open chance of securing places under the new system. “But inevitably, not all children will be interviewed. There is a huge waiting list.” Around 5,600 children are waiting for places at primary, and 1,000 at secondary.

But she said that companies and families could secure priority for interview by buying nomination rights and that without the subvention, there could be more opportunities to secure priority for interview, for those able to make the extra financial commitment.

An individual nominations rights scheme is already in place, limited to 150 places across the council. If children meet other admissions requirements, they can be guaranteed a place on payment of a non-refundable fee of HK$500,000.

The ESF is looking to raise further capital through a corporate rights scheme.

Details of this will be released shortly.

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“In education terms we have clarified our identity through the new admissions policy. No body can say we are organizing ourselves as an expatriate organization, though we are very happy to welcome expatriate children, just like anyone else,” Du Quesnay says.

The ESF’s changing character was already reflected in trends in the university destinations of its students, she pointed out. Nearly a quarter of

“Clearly fees are going to be higher for people who have to pay for themselves. But they will not be that bad. Our primary schools will still be in the lower range of international schools, and the secondary will be about the middle.” last year’s graduates – 23.7 percent – stayed in Hong Kong for higher education, up from 16.2 percent in 2011. The UK remained the leading destination, taking 38.5 percent. The US took 18.6 percent and Canada 10.7 percent.

“We have good relations with universities the world over, and very interesting developing relationships with the Hong Kong universities,” she says. This is not only for student admissions, but partnerships for professional development of teachers as well.

Putonghua Du Quesnay is particularly proud of her reform of the Chinese curriculum. Putonghua, she said, will be at the heart of its future success.

“Putonghua is going to be more and more important as 2047

approaches,” she says. Students currently enrolled in ESF schools will be at the center of Hong Kong’s next transition, when the 50-year term of Sino-British Joint Declaration underpinning the “one country, two systems” of government and way of life expires. Anyone working in the city at that time will need the language.

The ESF has developed three pathways for Chinese: suitable for native speakers, those speaking Chinese as a second language, and Chinese as foreign language. It has worked with the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority to develop competency tests for this range of ability, starting at Year 9, and with Cambridge International Examinations to write a new IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) syllabus for Putonghua as a second language, which is more challenging than the original foreign language version.

“We have reviewed Chinese across the piece and are trying to ensure that styles of pedagogy are more appealing to children who are receiving most of their education in a western tradition and style of teaching and learning. But we are determined to maintain our rigor of the teaching of the language and the characters,” Du Quesnay says.

In September Belinda Greer, a former school principal, school inspector, and director of education services overseeing 85 schools and nurseries in Scotland, takes over from Du Quesnay.

It will be up to Greer, working with the ESF board and principals, to set the vision for the future, she says.

“It is a very exciting future. The ESF is set fair to develop as an international education organization within the Hong Kong context,” says Du Quesnay, who will be returning to her home in Cambridge, UK. Those attending her farewell party, including Permanent Secretary for Education Cherry Tse Ling Kit-ching, warmly vouched that the ESF is indeed “set fair” for the future, thanks to Du Quesnay’s leadership, dedication, and the support she has given to her schools.

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SUCCESS IN SECURING A PROMISING FUTURE AmCham Hong Kong has for quite some time advocated vocally for a capacity increase in international school places in order to accomodate a growing number of students looking for access to education within the city. It is an important issue which has a direct impact on Hong Kong's competitiveness as an international city.

The Hong Kong government has recently announced the allocation of decommissioned school sites to three international schools for their development and expansion plans, and has granted permanent locations to International Montessori School, Carmel School and Nord Anglia Education. Representatives of each school talk to biz.hk about the latest development and their future plans for their schools.

Photo courtesy of International Montessori School

The Beginning of A New Future The International Montessori School is one of the most successful and popular international schools on Hong Kong Island. Its long waiting list has grown year by year and many parents are eager to send their children and toddlers to the IMS because of its Montessori curriculum, good management and emphasis on independent learning for children. In April, it was awarded a permanent site in Stanley for its new primary school. Daniel Kwan interviews Karin Ann, a founder of IMS, to learn more about its future plan and its secrets of success

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“H

ave you checked your emails yet?”

– is a commonly asked question and it often hints at some surprises for the recipients.

Indeed, when International Montessori School founders Karin Ann and Anne Sawyer checked their inbox one day shortly before Easter, they found a long awaiting email from the Education Bureau confirming what they had hoped for many years. The Hong Kong government has granted the IMS a permanent site in Stanley for their primary school.

“We were in tears and screaming,” recalls Ann. “It was a very emotional moment for both of us.”

The new campus The new site will have a capacity of 800 and is located on the Stanley waterfront, adjacent to the Stanley Plaza shopping center. Considering that IMS has had a long waiting list of 700, the announcement is a big deal to many expatriate families who have been hoping to enroll their children at the primary and kindergarten level on Hong Kong Island but were unable to in the past.

The IMS was founded by a group of parents in 2002 and its first campus was in the Star Street area on Queen’s Road East. The fact that it is a very good school and strong demand from parents who wanted “something different” for their children meant that it soon needed to look for bigger premises for expansion. As a result, the school has had four various moves in the past 10 years and currently has three campuses in Tin Hau, South Horizons and MidLevels. Its primary school is based in its Tin Hau campus and its toddler and kindergartens classes operate out of its other campuses. It now has over 600 students from more than 40 nationalities. It is the only Montessori primary school in Hong Kong at present.

In an interview with biz.hk, Ann says since they started 11 years ago, they always believe in that they would “get something” as they develop. While they have been tremendously successful in

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the past decade, the Stanley site announcement in April was certainly the most important milestone so far.

“The granting of Stanley is the day when we felt we really have a home now.

The day that we get Stanley, it all came together for us.”

“Now, we have a permanent home and long-term stability. It’s the beginning of a new future,” she says. “And we are very grateful to the Government for giving us this opportunity.”

Special significance The award of the Stanley site to IMS is clearly a step in the right direction by the government to address the shortage of primary international school places on the island side. And it has special significance to IMS because the addition of the Stanley site means that it will soon be able to offer Montessori education to families in all different parts of the island.

“Now, we have a permanent home and long-term stability. It’s the beginning of a new future and we are very grateful to the Government for giving us this opportunity.”

According to Ann, there will be a small kindergarten element in the Stanley site but that will mainly just cater to families who live in that catchment area.

“We will have kindergarten programs in all of our four campuses.

[For the kindergarten in Stanley], it mostly will be new children coming to IMS and there will be a small handful of children who choose to move from their existing campuses to Stanley just because they live in that catchment. So really what we are looking at the Stanley campus is that it will be for the Southern District catchment area and

the Tin Hau campus [is for the] north of Hong Kong Island plus Kowloon and outlying islands.”

The announcement also helps clarify the confusion created last summer when it was suggested that the government might turn the IMS’s Tin Hau campus into a youth hostel.

“It (the youth hostel plan) certainly was not what we’ve expected. But once it was clear of all the parameters of the situation, they were very supportive of us being able to continue to have this (Tin Hau campus) and operating it as a primary school. But it was a difficult time over the summer of last year,” Ann says.

The confusion came at a bad time because the school was already struggling to accommodate its growing kindergarten population – let alone children from other Montessori kindergartens – and its Tin Hau campus was running out of space.

“We are now able to accommodate all our own kindergarten children and also children from the other Montessori kindergartens in Hong Kong, which there are more and more right now. So the award of the Stanley site has allowed us to really accommodate far more people who want to have an IMS education than what really was possible.

“The main thing that will change is we now are able to offer a more direct through-train from our kindergarten into primary. Before it was really like a pyramid because we didn’t have space to ‘widen’ that pyramid but now we can do that,” Ann says.

The fact that the IMS is now able to go ahead with its expansion plan has another dimension of significance to Hong Kong’s international community, according to Ann. “We feel that we can bring a lot to the international community in Hong Kong because of our curriculum and the Montessori way of teaching – very adaptable to children of different backgrounds.

Children who come from different language backgrounds are able to come into our system and be successful and be learning with their peers.

“Because Montessori is such an international curriculum, children can easily go back to their home country

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as well. We truly believe that this is something which is a very broad offering and it will help Hong Kong maintain its attractiveness to the international community here.

“The thing that I want to emphasis the IMS primary school program is really adaptable. The common myth is that Montessori is an alternative and if I get in there, then I can’t get out. The truth is that it is not and it’s actually on the other side. And Montessori is very adaptable,” she adds.

Plan for Stanley Ann indicates that IMS will proceed with the expansion plan step by step, and she is confident that the new school will have a strong and professionally trained faculty to match.

“We are going into a fast growing stage. We hope to be able to fill the campus over the next three to five years.

We will not start in one-go with the whole thing. It will be a stage-by-stage [development]. In the first year, we are looking at taking in up to 200 children (the capacity is 700). We already have most of our faculty hired for that first year because we were preparing for the results,” she explains.

“We feel fortunate because in the Montessori world, IMS has developed a good reputation of really following the philosophy and teachers know that if they come here, they can do what they truly believe and they truly believe that this is the right way to educate children so they are very dedicated. So we have a great deal of interest from all over the world from teachers who want to come and work at our school,” she adds.

Despite the expansion plan, Ann says it will not have a direct impact on tuition and IMS would adjust its fees based on the costs of operation such as inflation just like what other international schools do. She says there will be a scholarship program at Stanley and it will be based on the needs of the families.

“It will probably be a mixture of some students who will get a high degree of tuition assistance and some – maybe as a family – will get some tuition

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An artist's impression of the new campus with an existing building in Stanley

assistance for each child so depending on the needs that there will be difference. We are still working on the details,” she says.

IMC accreditation

“The accreditation is very important for us and we think it is important for parents too because they know that the school is very well run and matching all the standards Montessori requires,” she adds.

In addition to the Stanley site announcement, the IMS has also achieved another major milestone in the past year – it became the first accredited Montessori primary school in Greater China and second in Asia (Japan has the first accredited primary school). “The accreditation is a big deal for us. What we wanted to do is really to validate what we are doing,” the IMS founder says.

According to her, the US-based International Montessori Council sent a team of inspectors from the US and Japan to IMS last November for a week-long inspection. The inspectors examined the school in nine different areas to make sure it meets all the required standards.

“It is not just that are we doing Montessori but how good a school is to be run. So the education is one element, the facilities, the finances, the admissions, teachers’ welfare – all those things are parts [of the accreditation].

It’s a very comprehensive and rigorous accreditation process,” Ann explains.

A commonly asked question Ann has is: Does IMS has plans for a secondary school? Ann who has spent the past decade to turn IMS into one of the most successful international primary schools in Hong Kong says that their immediate focus will be the new Stanley campus. “[A secondary Montessori school] is something very exciting and interesting to think about. Our parents have been asking about that for years.

“Our answer today has always been, ‘look, we don’t have a campus yet and let’s just get our campus and that’s our focus first.’ So just let’s get the home and now that our focus is really going to be building that campus and getting it up and running. “[A secondary school] will be something that we’ll consider for the future but I won’t say that there are any concrete plans at the moment – at least it’s not in the very immediate future,” she says.

A secondary school?

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Rachel Friedman

Permanent Premises Granted The Hong Kong Education Bureau has recently approved a permanent grant for the premises in Shau Kei Wan to Carmel School Association. Principal of Carmel School Rachel Friedmann talks about the recent announcement and her vision for the school in future development

biz.hk: What does a permanent grant of space for Carmel School mean?

Friedmann: The pressure on places is mostly for primary school grades. It is an important step for us because firstly it shows that the Education Bureau has confidence in us and in what our school is delivering.

Secondly, we can now provide through-train education for students aged from 1 to 18, which we could never guarantee because we never had a permanent home.

What’s fascinating is that there has been an explosion of demand, particularly among primary grades. Our campus on Robinson Road is very over-subscribed, and we have waiting lists. To cope with growing demand, we have applied to convert some of our facilities and to offer afternoon classes.

When we made our application to the

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Education Bureau, we made two important points: that we have a waiting list with significant potential for growth and that the Jewish community has been here for over 120 years but our school has been without a permanent home.

In a way, this has even more significance to our primary level students because there is now more confidence and certainty among parents that places at our school are less constrained for their children to stay. biz.hk: How are you different from other international schools?

Friedmann: Our school is open to all Jewish children residing in Hong Kong where at least one parent is a full time resident. There is also an international stream in our middle school as well as

in our Elsa High School – where we welcome students of all faiths. So, we have students who are Jewish and students of non-Jewish background, but everybody learns everything together.

In terms of curriculum, everybody learns Mandarin and the English language; some will take Jewish Studies or Hebrew. Jewish Studies provides an ethical, moral, philosophical and historical context in their learning, and there are religious elements in terms of prayers or customs, which our non-Jewish students can also study. In addition to Hebrew, French and Spanish are also offered. So, we’re very strong on languages; in fact, we started a Mandarin program last year in our preschool where our three-year-olds are now learning Mandarin, which is extraordinary.

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biz.hk: Do you run any other special programs in your school?

Friedmann: When you apply for a site [for a school or expansion of a school], you have to address a number of things, for example special needs of students and also the community setting. Because we’re small, we have been able to link up with other schools and local organizations for some programs. Our kids have participated in programs for disabled children and young adults with the Salvation Army just two doors away. They have also been to elderly homes and sung for them, and have on other occasions put on performances for others.

In many of our programs, we have invited local schools and linked up with them for things like sports matches.

Sometimes it can be quite hard because they’ve got their own programs but we’ve had some success.

One project we are currently doing is the Hong Kong Holocaust and Tolerance Center, which is housed in the school and has brought in students and teachers from other local and international schools to promote tolerance and understanding of people.

We’ve also been using our 500-seat auditorium for lectures and presentations for the local community. So, we are doing quite a lot, and that’s quite unusual of an international school. biz.hk: What critical role do you believe your school plays?

Friedmann: We believe the establishment of a Jewish school, which is also an international school, encourages the international context that will not only enable but also encourage families, business people and professionals to come and stay here when they’ve got children. Instead of sending their children home to a boarding school, they have the choice of staying together as a family, which is very, very important for many people.

As a school, we are also preparing our children for university. When I choose our curriculum, I have to look what we want for our school and for our children. I want the children to be able to go anywhere in the world, and

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US universities are well regarded. All of our students take the SAT, and IB is definitely the way forward. biz.hk: How do you determine which students to take in?

Friedmann: We do not have children of non-Jewish parents in our elementary grades because we are oversubscribed and because we see the benefits of an international setting are much more visible higher up. Students of non-Jewish parents above the age of 11 are absolutely welcome. I look for children with potentials through placement tests, face-to-face interviews, and meeting with their parents. I believe in a three-pronged approach of student-parent-school partnership, and parental commitment is extremely important.

We have taken in children who’ve had some sort of significant issue, where be it an issue with the school setting or an issue with academic learning or a specific learning difficulty. When a child has potential and we can provide correctly for that child, we will take them in as we’ve done with a lot of students. We definitely do take in children with special education needs for children if we can provide for them with specific support in place. We do have a special needs department, which is constantly evolving and developing with additional support. biz.hk: What are your plans in further developing your school?

Friedmann: We’ve renovated an abandoned site to incredibly high spec.

Although we don’t have a full-size playing field, we have a beautiful auditorium, state-of-the-art classrooms and labs. We have two beautiful roof spaces on the top floor that we use for things like festivals. This site is very developed. [In the past], we didn’t have the room and we had a situation where I had nowhere to put somebody.

We will now be able to provide more subjects. In terms of facilities, we are pretty high spec. Our classes are definitely growing.

I am very uncompromising on my

appointees. We give 2-year contracts or appointments, which we won’t renew if we are not satisfied. Another point is that I personalize education, although I am often told not to do that. Every year I have refined our approach on a few stands: one, on a specialized staff as I am trying to grow the commitment of the staff beyond the classroom; two, to provide the right curriculum; three, to involve the parents as much as possible, which is an on-going challenge because it is a communications issue; four, to provide for different needs so we look at different needs of children as they grow and face challenges.

One of the challenges is that any new school will not have immediate confidence of parents. We have to show a proven track record. I am quite proud. I feel that it has given me the setting to be able to put my vision into practice. I feel honored to be supported by a board believing in what we are trying to do here. biz.hk: What are your ambitions for your students in the future?

Friedmann: My ambition for the future is to prove to the parent body that the study of Hebrew and Jewish Studies are hugely important for Jewish children and hugely valuable for non-Jewish children to have a sense of values and understanding of morality and ethics in life. They also have an added component: it enhances all the other subjects and gives a critical ability to students, resulting in higher grades. This gives our kids an edge. biz.hk: Do you plan to make your site available for other activities?

Friedmann: One of things we are planning to do is to make use of our auditorium for both the Jewish community as well as the local community in future events. We have already started doing so as we’ve had various schools come and host events.

Most importantly I want it to be used by the local community because I want to combine all the strengths. I envisage that it becomes a venue for community events.

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A

s an education hub, Hong Kong has over the years attracted a great deal of interest among international organizations to set up international schools here. The recent example was the opening last year of Harrow International School in Tuen Mun. In April, the Education Bureau announced that Nord Anglia Education – like Harrow, also from the UK – has been awarded a permanent site to open its first international school in Hong Kong. The new school, which will open on an old site of a public school in Lam Tin in September 2014, will offer 660 places for primary and lower secondary students from years 1 to 8. It will follow the National Curriculum of England and Wales.

Selecting Hong Kong

Photos courtesy of Nord Anglia Education

Nord Anglia Education – the British Offering Nord Anglia Education is a newcomer to Hong Kong. Although NAE has been a leader in the international education field for more than 20 years, the organization is making its foray into Hong Kong by opening its first school in the territory next year. Andrew Fitzmaurice, Chief Executive Officer of NAE, tells biz.hk about its plan for the new school and its decision to set up its Global Headquarters in Hong Kong

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Andrew Fitzmaurice, Chief Executive Officer of NAE, says they studied the market carefully before picking Hong Kong over its competitors. One of the reasons is Hong Kong’s geographical advantage. “Our vision is to become the world’s leading premium school organization and so we asked where would be the best place to locate for an international organization of premium schools?” he says in an interview with biz.hk.

“We thought about Geneva and London, and we also considered Shanghai. But we decided on Hong Kong because Hong Kong offers access to China and Southeast Asia.

China is the biggest part of our organization. We wanted to grow in both China and Southeast Asia,” he adds.

At present, NAE operates 13 premium co-educational schools in 11 locations across Asia, Switzerland, and Central Europe. In China, it currently has two schools each in Shanghai and Beijing. The Lam Tin campus will be its first in Hong Kong and its fifth in Greater China. In addition, NAE also operates the British International School Abu Dhabi. NAE now employs

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Andrew Fitzmaurice

about 2,500 people and the majority are teaching professionals with knowledge and experience in the British system.

Unlike its counterparts in Mainland China, the Lam Tin school in Hong Kong is fundamentally different in one respect: local students. According to Fitzmaurice, international schools in Mainland China are not allowed to accept students who don’t have foreign passports. In Hong Kong, the Education Bureau has set a 30 percent ceiling for local students for NAE. “In all of our schools outside China, we have a proportion of local students – anything from 20 to 45 percent. The percentage for our school in Lam Tin is limited to 30 percent,” he says.

Common strength Aside from the local student restriction, NAE Hong Kong will share much of the same strength of other NAE schools around the world.

The CEO says that he is confident about recruitments – both students and teachers – and the response so far has been overwhelming.

“We have already – even though we haven’t advertised the school at all –

received well over 100 applications.

They are from people who found out [about the new school] from our Website and have sent in [their applications]. ‘I hear that you are opening a school in Hong Kong and I want to register my two children.’ The demand in Hong Kong for our school has been very high,” he says.

“In all of our schools outside China, we have a proportion of local students – anything from 20 to 45 percent. The percentage for our school in Lam Tin is limited to 30 percent.”

Fitzmaurice says the Lam Tin school will only cater to primary to lower secondary, but NAE is keenly interested to extend into the senior secondary years.

“We are very keen to go all the way

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through to Year 13. We are already looking at opportunities – both through our own efforts and hopefully with more school sites made available by the Education Bureau – to offer secondary as well. For now, we are very focused on making sure this initial campus in Lam Tin is a success,” he stresses.

Although NAE Hong Kong follows the British curriculum, Fitzmaurice says parents need not worry about future admission to American universities. NAE schools not only offer the International Baccalaureate programs, it also assists students who want to sit for the SAT exams.

“If you have done the IB, then that will differentiate you. We also assist students through the SAT program to take the SAT. If you talk to any of our schools in Shanghai and Beijing, a large number of our students go to American universities. We’ve got American Ivy League universities visiting our campuses in China because we have dedicated people responsible for liaising between us and the universities,” he explains.

Helping others thrive NAE not only puts a great deal of emphasis on students’ performance (according to Fitzmaurice, 25 to 30 percent of its students go to the top 30 universities in the world); it also invests heavily on the continuous career development of its teachers.

The Nord Anglia University allows NAE teachers to stay on top of the latest and best practices in the profession and it is available to all NAE teachers.

“We’ll offer professional training and development – maybe after school hours, maybe with some placements, maybe with exchanges with our schools in China – and we are going to work with Hong Kong’s Institute of Education to provide us with teachers,” Fitzmaurice says.

In addition, NAE is also making full use of its global network and offers its students the “Global Classroom” –

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Future campus of Nord Anglia Education in Lam Tin

an innovative way of learning that enables students to learn from their peers around the world. Through an online platform, Global Classroom provides a secure environment that enables the students to learn informally, interact with experts, and collaborate with their peers in other NAE schools.

For example, students in 2011 were tasked to create a mural with the guidance of a London-based art company. Last November, they learned how to create and perform in a global competition working with the world famous Pineapple Dance Studio.

“They really did some amazing things making use of the Global Classroom environment,” the CEO says.

But Fitzmaurice makes it clear that the NAE is a performance-driven school and it takes its mission – helping others (students and teachers) thrive – seriously.

“We measure the progress of our students constantly and we set targets for every student in every subject, with every teacher, throughout all our schools every year. So we are very

Campus in Shanghai

target-driven. We are heavily into assessing our students and measuring their progress,” he says.

“But we don’t believe that you take a measure of a student and then you set the expectation – either of the student, or of the parents, or of the teacher – about what that student can achieve.

“Our constant assessment is to measure our progress. It is because that we see it as our job. Everyone who works in our organization is to achieve high performance for all of students in our schools. Our vision is to become a leading premium school organization, and our mission – what gets us out of bed in the morning – is helping others thrive,” he sums up.

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LAW

T

he escalating brawl that has drawn international attention in recent months concerns the sovereignty over ocean areas and island chains, including the Spratly and Paracel Islands, located in the South China Sea. China, referring to the “nine-dash line” drawn up in 1947 and drawing from historical basis dating back to 2,000 years ago, insists that it has “indisputable claim” in over 90 percent of the sea territory.

Meanwhile, Vietnam disputes China’s account with claims that it has actively ruled over both islands since the 17th Century. The Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei also contend for their share by invoking their proximity and the rights of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) stipulated in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

“They think that politically its’ better even at the cost of losing world opinion on this”

A Possible Solution to China’s Maritime Disputes: UNCLOS New York University law professor Jerome Cohen talks about China’s positioning on maritime disputes with its neighbors and shares his insights on a solution and obstacles in the current gridlock

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“This is an issue of resources, strategy and maintaining security,” says Professor Jerome Cohen in an interview with biz.hk, “Whoever possesses these islands will have a stronger position in terms of controlling what happens in the area.” He also points out the emotional factor in the dispute, “it’s about nationalism and ‘debtism,’ about getting land back that you think belongs to you.”

The contested area accounts for US$5 trillion in ship-born trade and is home to 10 percent of global fisheries.

According to a report released by the US Energy Information Administration in February 2013, the region houses an estimated 11 billion-barrel oil reserve and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Other estimations report the natural gas reserve at some 900 trillion cubic feet.

biz.hk 6 • 2013

Recently, China has rejected arbitration at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea with the Philippines, reiterating its insistence on conducting diplomacy mostly on a bilateral basis. International arbitration is a risk that China is unwilling to take, says Cohen, since it is uncertain whether its claims would be vindicated. By resorting to diplomatic negotiation and military pressure, Beijing hopes to secure its control in the region without third-party intervention.

However, this has put China in a “bad position,” continues Cohen, commenting on how China has failed to abide by the international rules.

“The Philippines has brought a case, China should respond, and leave it to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to decide how to apply the rules.”

“If China succeeds in thumping its nose at this system, UNCLOS could be very badly hurt, and international law would suffer a lot and the chances of war in East-Asia would increase,” he warned and notes that tension in South East-East Asia will increase.

“Let China sue us … and we will accept the outcome” What then can be done, and what are the factors standing in the way of peace and cooperation? Cohen believes the solution lies in the international laws and treaty: UNCLOS, which outlines a specific set of principles and processes for addressing disputes.

UNCLOS, which came into force on November 16, 1994, provides a

biz.hk 6 • 2013

framework for understanding and resolving the territorial disputes, asking questions like: what, if any, territorial sea and EEZ comes with what island, whether a region can be considered an island with a continental shelf, and what a country can and cannot do in its EEZ. According to Cohen, if the disagreements are handed over to an impartial tribunal, the facts can be considered in the objectivity of international laws. However, the professor also observes a general lack of commitment among nations to abide by UNCLOS which is ratified by China but not the US. Relating the South China Sea dispute to the disagreement between China and Japan over the control of the Diaoyu or Senkaku islands, Cohen says despite the geographical differences, the culprit of the disputes is basically the same: who owns the “pile of rocks,” and whether they are merely a pile of rocks. Does the region have a continental shelf, and can it be defined as an “island?” In view of this territorial incubus hanging over South-East Asia, Cohen calls for all parties to keep a cool head, and believes that UNCLOS is the way to peace.

“I want them (Japan) to say: we are a country that believes in international law, let China sue us before the international court of justice and we will accept the outcome…My hope is gradually the Chinese leadership will see that there is more to be gained by going to an impartial tribunal and that

way setting this dispute aside, and cooperating on lots of other things.”

“The military plays a disturbingly significant role now” However, China may be a long way from accepting international arbitration. Cohen is concerned that while the Foreign Ministry is staffed by a generation of knowledgeable diplomats and legal experts, the Chinese military is playing an increasingly important role in China’s foreign policy.

The territorial claim is also deeply entangled with growing nationalistic sentiments, which the hawks in the military seem to be fanning. The rising nationalism and influence of the military are not unfamiliar, observes Cohen, who points to Japan’s aggressive militarism in the past. He fears that the Foreign Ministry is no more than a voice given lines to speak by higher-ups who are playing on a broader political canvas.

Sharing Beijing’s territorial claims, Taipei is stuck in its own dilemma.

While standing up against another country is usually good for popularity, opinion at home concerning the South China Sea dispute is divided. Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou whose popularity rating is at an all-time low now faces huge domestic pressure to stand up to the Philippines over fishery disputes in the South China Sea. At the same time, Ma’s government

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Profile: is caught between standing firm on its historic territorial claims in South China and East China seas and being cautious not to appear as cooperative with Beijing, given the two’s long-time conflict over territory and sovereignty.

The ambiguity of Taiwan “mucks up the clarity of the game; it has confused the situation,” says Cohen.

“It was like studying the moon; it wasn’t like a real subject” Looking forward, the complexity of international politics and China’s role on the global and regional issues will require more experienced China hands. As he comments on China’s position and the possibilities of the South China Sea conflict, Cohen also reveals his vast knowledge of the country that had been closed to the world for most of its modern history. “I was lucky I had the support of the Rockefeller Foundation, but I couldn’t go to China, I had to wait 12 years,” Cohen says.

“It was like studying the moon, it wasn’t like a real subject,” he laughs a bit, and adds that it was only in the October of 1970 when China normalized relations with Canada that he could meet with Chinese in Ottawa and Montreal. It wasn’t until 1979 that he could visit China in person.

But it was Hong Kong that played a key role in Cohen’s understanding of China. When he lived in Hong Kong from 1963-64, Cohen interviewed many Chinese refugees and learned much about China’s legal and judicial system.

“I remember there was a policeman from Fuzhou I interviewed here in 1963 for 120 hours. There was a man who studied law and became a lawyer

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Dr Jerome Cohen and assistant judge, he’s still alive here, I interviewed for 85 hours. There was a public security man from Guangzhou who I interviewed for 85 hours. There was a depth I was allowed to have.”

As China opens up to the new information age, Cohen sees much greater opportunities for anyone interested to become experts on the mysterious yet fascinating country. But he believes the best way to understand China remains the same as it was decades ago: to learn in close proximity, which means living in the country and mastering its language, speaking with its people and insisting on seeking the truth.

When the opportunity to live and work in China came up, Cohen made his decision with learning the truth as his priority: “One, I could continue to be a Harvard professor, which would mean people would be very polite to me in China but I wouldn’t learn anything really; I could be a diplomat and I’d learn even less; I could be a journalist and they’d think I was a spy.”

“But business offered an opportunity and that’s why I decided to leave Harvard and become a lawyer for a foreign business in China. [It is] because if you want our investment, you’ve got to start telling us things.”

Having worked on China for decades, Cohen encourages anyone who is interested in studying the country to experience its culture personally.

“One of my grandsons is interested in international business with China and is now at NYU as a second-year student, I hope next year he will go study at the NYU’s Shanghai campus.

We’re opening a new building [in Shanghai] next fall and I want him to take advantage of this opportunity,” he says enthusiastically. – Interview by Daniel Kwan and additional reporting

by Michelle Ko

Jerome Cohen is currently a professor of law at the New York University School of Law. He is an expert on East Asian and Chinese law, a senior fellow for Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, and serves as “of counsel” at the international law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. He was the Director of East Asian Legal Studies at Harvard Law School from 1964-1979, and pioneered the introduction of East Asian laws into the American legal curricula.

Apart from his involvement in the academia and private sector, Cohen is active in advocating human rights in China. He played a key role in securing the release of the blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng – a civil rights activist who sought refuge in the US last year and is currently residing in New York.

biz.hk 6 • 2013

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

MOVING

SUSTAINABILITY Sustainability has proven to be more than just a catchphrase or a trend. It is now a vital element in business, yet some industries have been able to embrace the concept more completely than others. Megaen Kelly looks at the relocation business in general and speaks with Bruce Fox of AGS Four Winds International Movers, Hong Kong, to see where the sector is heading Bruce Fox

S

ustainability for business can be understood in two broad ways, according to Bruce Fox, Head of Business Development for AGS Four Winds International Movers. On the one hand, it refers to the viability of the business itself and how a company treats its employees.

On the other hand, it concerns a corporation’s direct and indirect impact on the environment.

Fox recognizes that the relocation industry may not be as ‘green’ as other industries, and that it has a long way to go in reducing its environmental impact. He says that “we can do better but we need to look at the whole process.”

An area that needs improvement, he admits, is in following the recycling chain to its end. “Hong Kong has so many middle men (in the recycling chain) that it’s difficult to follow

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where all of the materials ultimately end up,” he says.

Actively looking AGS uses materials that are 60 percent recycled, Fox says. The company also actively looks at other areas in which to improve its sustainability efforts. He breaks down sustainability into three main areas: 1) industry specific 2) appropriately timed 3) value adds The industry specific aspect relates to both the needs of a particular job as well as the industry involved.

For example, relocation companies typically use and sometimes reuse paper boxes, but they literally have a short shelf life. There is a need to utilize other materials, for instance, plastic boxes. But Fox points out the logistical problem with this, “how

would you get the plastic boxes back from B once they shipped from A in a sustainable manner?”

Then there is the timing issue. He explains: “The drivers for each industry are different and priorities for change will vary accordingly.” An example of this is the use of ground transportation in the relocation industry. While hybrid and/or electric cars are buzz words these days, the technology is still developing.

Fox does not hide his scepticism about the viability of the technology for the removals industry. “How can we justify the use of hybrid or electric cars and say they are sustainable, when the process to make the batteries to power them is highly unsustainable?”

AGS, at every branch of its operations in Asia, has at least 10 European Lift Vans, which are of Euro 5 or Euro 6 standard. These vans are made with more recycled materials than many

biz.hk 6 • 2013

other similar vehicles and of course they burn cleaner fuel.

The adds value area of sustainability relates mainly to the workforce and the sustainability issues put in place by a company’s management. AGS was the first relocation company to get involved with the United Nationals Global Compact initiative.

Globally represented, locally present The UN Global Compact came about when the leaders of the world body saw the need to work together with companies in adopting sustainable and socially responsible (CSR work in other words) policies, and to report on their implementation.

While the UN has divided their Global Compact into 10 parts, AGS focuses their commitment in four areas: environment, community, marketplace and human rights. One of the company’s biggest global efforts is their reforestation partnership with Planète Urgence.

biz.hk 6 • 2013

Having already planted over 65,000 trees in Madagascar, Indonesia and Mali since 2010, it is a physical way to put back what their industry takes out of the natural resources of the planet.

In numbers, it equates to every international move representing one planted tree. International customers get a certificate showing where ‘their tree’ is planted. AGS hopes to have 87,000 trees planted by years’ end.

And there is of course the opportunity for local offices to set up their charitable efforts as they see fit. In Hong Kong that means contributing to the Hong Chi Association as well as the Hong Kong Student Aid Society.

But even more importantly, and personally, to Fox is his efforts with the Somaly Mam Foundation.

Introduced to the company by Fox, last year he and a small group of enthusiasts cycled 550 km around Cambodia, raising funds for the organization which helps survivors of human trafficking recover and lead meaningful lives. It is an experience that literally changed Fox’s life. He hopes to lead an even bigger effort next year.

After his efforts with the Somaly Mam Foundation, Fox’s biggest work-related wish is that relocation companies, especially locally, would work together to reduce waste. One of the biggest ways of achieving this would be by using the same supplier for materials.

“But there’s no will among the companies, so it has proven to be impossible,” he says.

This is worrisome when it comes to environmental issues, as the larger logistics industry is responsible for 5.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions on a yearly basis. When you take that and add it to the tremendous amount of waste that occurs just in the relocations sector in the use of paper, tissue, plastic tape, etc, that’s a big environmental impact that needs fixing.

Keepin’ it clean Fox notes that being able to utilize ships to move cargo is a more

environmentally-friendly method of moving containers, especially over airplanes, which is by far the least green manner of moving. Shipping by sea will hopefully become even ‘greener’ soon as the government seeks to legislate the use of low sulphur fuel in Hong Kong.

The use of low sulphur fuel already took a step forward three years ago when the Fair Wind Charter (FWC) was launched. The FWC is an industry-led, voluntary initiative aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of the shipping industry by insisting on the use of low sulphur fuel when coming into and at berth in a port.

“We can do better but we need to look at the whole process. Hong Kong has so many middle men (in the recycling chain) that it’s difficult to follow where all of the materials ultimately end up.”

Low sulphur fuel has a 0.5 percent sulphur content or less, making it better for the environment. This is an initiative welcomed by AGS, who plan on continuing in their own efforts at reducing their carbon footprint.

AGS is taking its reduction effort so seriously that its headquarters in Paris has launched a year-long project to quantify its emission of greenhouse gases. It is expected that once the results are out later this year that management will then develop solutions to reduce the company’s environmental impact.

AGS’ commitment to the environment is a sense of pride for Fox, who continues looking at ways to make both his company and his industry more sustainable.

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BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

inappropriate relationships, corrupt sales manager, etc. People who specialize in fixes combine business skills, social work, and psychology, often with cross cultural communications skills.

Both the large scale and mid market turnarounds are often connected to bankruptcy and insolvency, which has a much longer history of case law supporting potential liquidation – including chapter 11 in the US, Administration in Europe, and recent bankruptcy laws in China and Hong Kong. There is often a tension between bankruptcy practitioners and corporate renewal managers. The insolvency field makes its money in orderly liquidation, while turnaround managers and restructuring teams earn their living by preventing liquidation and reviving revenue growth and profitability.

When the situation is dire, or irretrievable, bankruptcy and turnaround managers can work together to find optimal solutions, and in recent years there is much more cooperation between the two groups of specialists.

Understanding Restructuring and Turnarounds in Asia Restructuring and turnarounds have a long history in western economies but are relatively new in Asia. There is a big difference between turning a failed business around and shutting it down and absorbing the losses. Robert Fonow, a turnaround specialist for more than 20 years, shares what he sees in the marketplace and some human factors to watch in order to be able to do the job right

I

’ll never forget my first turnaround in Asia, a joint venture in Shanghai with five Chinese partners, each with their own business plan. The quarterly board reports seemed doctored, and the internal accounts screamed fraud, until one day the finance manager confessed that “I’m not very good with zeros”.

You never know when it’s going to happen, but at some time in every career, a CEO or CFO will experience a failing division, a missed product launch, a damaging fraud, or even an unpredictably mundane story that derails revenue growth and profitability.

The vexing question: Can we fix the problem ourselves, or do we need an outside specialist?

At first the company will believe it can resolve the issues with its own executives. Often, this is an unfulfilled wish, especially in a country and culture far away from headquarters.

The question quickly becomes

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“Who do I call?”

Fortunately, in Asia today executives have several choices of corporate renewal professionals using tested methods of restructuring and turnaround management. Who to call depends on the scope of the problem and the depth of the crisis.

Restructuring The largest turnarounds today are best understood as restructuring – often led by a Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO). Restructuring is necessary when problems are placing the corporation’s overall business in jeopardy, or even when an organization has collapsed. A company can restructure by selling assets, renegotiating debt, and eliminating duplicated manufacturing processes or redundant product lines. Recent examples are General Motors in 2008 and HP today.

Restructuring of this magnitude requires teams of professionals including bank restructuring departments,

The human dimension specialized law firms, large accounting and consulting firms, and teams from large turnaround partnerships. Due to the size of the turnaround and potential impact on national and regional economies, governments are also key participants, acting as a guarantor of last resort.

It’s difficult to put numerical boundaries on restructuring, but the largest probably start at annual revenues of US$800 million to$1 billion. The very largest ones, like HP today, often have revenues over $100 billion in a corporate restructuring that HP executives say will last several years.

Turnarounds A few steps down the ladder of distress, much turnaround work is in mid-sized corporations and large companies, often with dispersed operating locations and assets.

A mid market turnaround might include an entire company, a division, or even a particular

biz.hk 6 • 2013

product or service line. A typical mid market turnaround will have a senior turnaround manager in charge, acting as the general manager or CEO, and will use the same specialists from banking, law, accountancy and consulting as in the large scale turnarounds, but only as needed.

There are many causes of mid market distress, but usually marketing and product complacency, a lack of investment in new equipment or people skills, or simply being blindsided by a competitor or new technology can lead do a precipitous decline in operating revenues.

Another subset of turnarounds includes troubleshooting and fixes. Not every problem requires a turnaround.

Sometimes targeted corrective action is sufficient to stabilize a company and return it to normal operations. Many unexpected events can require a fix: the death of a key executive who neglected a succession plan, embezzlement,

biz.hk 6 • 2013

Like most decisions in business, the personal qualities of the leader bear directly on the results. A CRO or turnaround general manager requires a broad background in business problem solving, general management experience, and a capacity for leadership. The professionals providing support services will have specialized financial, legal and accounting skills pertaining to corporate restructuring and renewal.

Those interested in the turnaround sector must be able to tolerate ambiguity, and have a highly developed intuition for finding a workable path to a solution through confusion, instability and all sorts of corporate intrigue. Nobody is happy in a turnaround, at least in the early stages, when distress is most severe.

One question remains? Is Asia different than the rest of the world?

Regional executives tell me that Asian corporations retain patriarchal and benevolent leadership, decision making is communal and bottom up, and the Chinese state capital model has survived

the 2008 financial crisis. As a consequence the market for large scale restructuring and turnarounds is limited and even unnecessary in Asia.

My career as a turnaround manager for 30 years, around the world, in several economic systems indicates a note of caution. Hubris always meets its nemesis.

Last but not least is that an underrated quality in any turnaround or restructuring is empathy, and this is perhaps where Asian culture has an advantage.

There is an incorrect perception from earlier western practices in corporate renewal that the turnaround or restructuring managers must be a hard charging, take no prisoners martinets. Such attitude is counterproductive.

In turnaround land, mistakes were often made at the top, not in middle management or by field workers, yet they are the ones who suffer most with job losses and careers ended. Those remaining are the foundation of future success.

This is as true in China, as in Russia, Switzerland or the United States.

About the author:

Bob Fonow is a turnaround executive with global experience in the international telecommunications, IT manufacturing and services, and human resources sectors. He is managing director of Revenue Growth International Ltd (RGI Ltd.), and chairman of Beijing Mao Rui Zixun Youxian Gongsi. In addition, he is a board member of the Asia Transformation and Turnaround Association (ATTA) for 2012.

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FINANCIAL SERVICES

Structured Products: The Good, The Ugly and The Reality Will structured products – widely blamed for precipitating the 2008 financial crisis – make a return to the market? If the answer is ‘yes’, then what lessons have investors learned? Veteran banker Warren Kwan who pioneered the design of structured products in Asia a decade ago shares his views about the controversial instrument tool and its future

The good In the days before 2008, life in the financial industry was certainly different. At the time, I was the Global Head of an equity derivatives and convertibles desk in a major bank, based in Hong Kong. Back then, structured products (investment vehicles designed to facilitate highly customized risk and reward profiles) were highly popular for the Korean market alone and we dealt around US$1 billion with more issuance of new products every month. In Asia, the peak of the structured product market was 2007, with major banks in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore aggressively growing sales.

The birth of structured products in Asia, in my opinion, would have been in early 2006. My team and I had begun designing the original product framework since 2004, but it reached its full maturity in 2006 with great success.

The market then was favorable to

34

investors and we had started out with genuinely good intentions, structuring products that were likely to be profitable to both investor and issuer. This led to two years of successful money making for all parties involved and everyone was happy.

Of course, as with most golden goose fables; intermediaries soon figured out that by manipulating the design of a structured product, pay off levels could be changed between the parties involved. Inevitably, the products were modified to favor mainly the intermediaries and to such an excessive extent that it left the investors blindsided and dangerously exposed to risk.

The ugly Take the Stock Accumulator as an example. Accumulator was the most popular structured product during the 2008 crisis. Accumulators are derivative products that require issuers to

sell their underlying stocks at a pre-determined price, to be settled periodically. One of the first features changed was the knock out levels (the trigger feature which activates when the pre-determined price is hit, automatically exiting the contract).

In the past, knock out levels were at a range of 5 to 10 percent above the initial price traded, this gave sufficient room for investors to remain in the game of accumulating the stock when it is moving up. The knock-out levels were subsequently tweaked down to a measly 2-3 percent. This inevitably meant a much higher chance of ‘knock out’, especially during times of volatility.

As a result, investors hoping to gain from rising stock values would have to re-enter another contract as soon as possible, sometimes day-by-day if continual knockouts occurred. This gave the intermediaries great transactional profit, but it left the investors with a more tedious re-contracting process, much higher risk exposure

6 • 2013

due to the compounding effect, opportunity loss and market timing issues.

Leverage features were also introduced. One of the mostly used leverage feature was that the investor would have to subscribe to the underlying investment. The subscription was equivalent to twice the initial investment amount if the price of the underlying investment – whether it is shares, precious metal, currency, etc – would go below a certain level, called the ‘strike price’.

The ‘strike price’ was typically 5-10 percent below the market price of the underlying when the accumulator was initiated. This type of leveraging meant that risk was doubled on the downside, whilst gains were restricted by the volatility of the underlying investment and the level of ‘knock out’ set usually at 2-3 percent above the market price.

Elsewhere in the industry, unethical practice with product design also took place. The industry was corrupted. , The final straw was the Lehman Brothers crisis in 2008, which ultimately was a credit default event and not necessarily related to structured products that mercilessly exposed to the public the failure of investor protection and led to the many unsophisticated investors to lose their assets.

During this time, overly complex credit linked products like CDO’s (Collaterized Debt Obligation), which were unsuitable for the retail public in the first place, crashed when exposed to any Lehman bonds in their underlying.

CDO’s (Collaterized Debt Obligation) are securities backed by a selection of bonds, loans and other assets, which were also likely affected by the Lehman crash.

As a result, derivatives, (a security whose price is derived from one or more underlying assets) – a major component of any structured product – acquired the reputation as one of the tools used to deceive investors into making unsafe, incomprehensible and dangerous financial investments.

The reality The truth is that derivatives can be

6 • 2013

effective and powerful tools for managing the risk/reward profiles of investments. The effectiveness and outcome of the derivatives depend entirely on what they are designed to achieve, just like any other tool in another industry. If used correctly, investors stand to gain greatly.

Structured products, in fact, are mechanisms consisted of options, cash and derivatives. They can be designed to limit risk exposures, for example, downside risk of an investment, and therefore acting as a security buffer. The design of such mechanism can be acquired quite quickly through education and practice.

Currently, the pay off structures (a graphic presentation of return on investment) of most investments are linear (dollar for dollar increase or decrease in value as investment goes up or down) as most investments are simple one-to-one exposure to the underlying investment in shares, bond, foreign exchange, etc. Derivatives can be created to change the pay off structure to the investor’s best interest according to the market view of the investor.

The financial industry’s 2008 crash simply highlighted that: • Not all financial “professionals” had the professional proficiency; • Intermediaries were too greedy; • Regulators relied too much on the self-regulation of the intermediaries to carry out their fiduciary duty as professionals; • A general mistrust of intermediaries by the investment public, with many investors feeling betrayed These days, most investors avoid structured products and derivatives unless they are highly sophisticated or risk aggressive.

The opportunity In times like these, intermediaries, facing backlash for their past behavior, are struggling to re-establish themselves in the market place. This opens up a window of opportunity for investors, who are still

interested in structured products, as demand for such products nearly vanished.

Such low demand provides the chance to negotiate better customization and more favorable terms with intermediaries for certain products.

For investors with knowledge of the structured products, there is simply more bargaining power for better risk/reward profile products.

In my opinion, the worst may be over – the horizon looks promising for investors as the financial industry, one of the world’s most important industries, learns from its mistakes and slowly recovers.

Gradually over time, structured products will hopefully regain their sense of usefulness and with new protective regulations and wiser industry professionals, opportunities for gain will continue to increase. It is not too late to build up one’s knowledge base of such useful financial instruments.

About the author:

Warren Kwan is now Chief Investment Officer of LW Asset Management Advisors Limited. He was one of the original pioneer designers of the structured product in its earliest stages in Asia. He has openly disapproved of the later customizations built in to heavily favor the intermediaries. Kwan believes investor education is the key to understanding the product tool, avoiding bad structures and maximizing investor benefit.

35

2013 Jul

Mark Your Calendar Jul

23

Mindful Cultivation of Work-Life Balance Steven D Hickman, PsyD Executive Director, UCSD Center for Mindfulness Associate Clinical Professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Family & Preventive Medicine, UCSD Come and hear from Dr Steven Hickman, Executive Director of the UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness, speak on the power of mindfulness practice and the ways we can tap into the deep inner resources for creating a mindfully balanced and integrated life.

Dr Steven Hickman is a Clinical Psychologist and Associate Clinical Professor at UC San Diego’s Departments of Psychiatry and Family and Preventive Medicine. He is Executive Director of the UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness, a program of clinical care, professional training and research. Since founding the Center in 2000, he has taught over 60 Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) courses, numerous other Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs) and has been a trainer of teachers in MBSR and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy.

The Center is a global leader in providing professional training in mindfulness-based interventions for professionals. Dr Hickman is also a member of the Executive Committee of the UCSD Center for Integrative Medicine.

A Comparative Advantage Strategy for

Dr XU Yuan Assistant Professor, Department of Geography and Resource Management The Chinese University of Hong Kong As a result of the unprecedented growth of the economy and energy consumption, no other country is facing more daunting challenges than China to reduce pollutant emissions. Through examining mainly SO2 mitigation in coal-fired power plants and secondarily wind energy development, Dr Xu suggests a comparative advantage strategy for China’s fast pollution mitigation.

Dr XU Yuan focuses in his research on China’s energy and environmental policy from the two complementary perspectives of pollution mitigation and relevant industrial and technological development. His work mainly targets the power sector, covering both conventional air pollutants, especially SO2, and CO2.

Before joining CUHK in August 2010, Dr XU received a PhD degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University in February 2010 and conducted a postdoctoral training in between at the Industrial Performance Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received his BS and MS degrees from the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Peking University.

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