Monday 8th June 2009

Dear Reader,

What a busy weekend! Three new stories, somewhat inter-related. And don't worry - we haven't forgotten the follow-up to our Byford story - so please send us any whistle-blowing material you may have on PME (379), China Railway Logistics (8089), China Bio-Med Regeneration Technology (8158) or China Fortune Group (0290).

Tycoons gain in Listing Committee shake-up
Well what did you expect after the blackout saga? The changes are not subtle, and further diminish the outlook for corporate governance reforms in the Listing Rules. We take you through the changes and the likely shape of the committee until 2012 and its leadership until 2015.

The HKICS blackout study
In a side-piece to our story on the Listing Committee, we look at the flaws in the study commissioned by the Institute of Chartered Secretaries after they opposed the backout extension, from none other than the brother of the Secretary for Financial Services, whose bureau lobbied to overturn the rule.

Suitability in a disclosure-based market
SEHK has announced possible waivers of the profit criteria. We don't object, but the profit criteria should be scrapped. It has no place in a disclosure-based market, and is no substitute for better accounting disclosure requirements and effective legal remedies and deterrents, all of which HK still sorely lacks. We make proposals for those.

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