CLSA

CLSA (中信里昂證券)

Formerly called	Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Diversified financials
Founded	Hong Kong (1986)
Headquarters	Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Number of locations	25 (2016)
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Jonathan Slone Chairman and CEO
Products	Financial services
Brands	CLSA’s Investor Forums
Services	Equity broking, corporate finance & capital markets and asset management.
Number of employees	1,400 (2014)
Parent	CITIC Securities
Website	www.clsa.com

CLSA (Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia) (中信里昂證券) is a brokerage and investment groups focused on institutional brokerage, investment banking and asset management for corporate and institutional clients around the world.^[1][2]

Founded in 1986, CLSA (Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia) has its headquarters in Hong Kong and offices or representatives in 15 cities across the Asia-Pacific region, as well as Amsterdam, Boston, Chicago, New York, London and San Francisco. The parent company is CITIC Securities, China's largest brokerage.

History

In 1986, Winfull Laing & Cruickshank Securities began operations in Hong Kong, with former business journalist Jim Walker as chairman. The small brokerage was a 50-50 joint venture between the Woo Hon Fai family and Alexander Laing & Cruickshank.

Walker was soon joined by two other former journalists: Gary Coull, as head of the dealing room, and Malcolm Surry, as head of research. All three had worked at the South China Morning Post; neither Coull nor Surry had any experience in brokering.

The following year, Crédit Lyonnais acquired Alexander Laing & Cruickshank and, after various iterations, Walker’s start-up emerged in 1989 as Credit Lyonnais Securities (Asia). But relations with the French giant – which was about to be engulfed by a series of major financial scandals – soon became ‘impossible’, according to Coull, and he and Walker resigned. They were persuaded to return in exchange for a 35% stake in the company and guarantees of independence.

CLSA was majority owned (65%) by Crédit Agricole, France’s largest retail-banking group, with the remainder held by staff, until 2012. That year, Crédit Agricole sold a 19.9 percent stake to the Chinese firm CITIC Securities.^[3] On July 31, 2013, CITIC Securities acquired the remaining 80.1% of CLSA from Crédit Agricole to become the majority shareholder of CLSA.

Controversies that have hit the firm include the Securities and Futures Commission reprimand in May 2004; Asiamoney “vote-rigging” email in 2005; and Allen Lam insider-trading conviction in July 2009^[4][5][6]

Locations and staffing

With headquarters in Hong Kong, CLSA has offices or representatives in 21 other cities around the world: Sydney (Australia), Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen (China), Mumbai and Pune (India), Jakarta (Indonesia), Tokyo (Japan), Seoul (Korea), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Port Louis (Mauritius), Manila (Philippines), Singapore (Singapore), Taipei* (Taiwan), Bangkok (Thailand), London (United Kingdom), Amsterdam (Netherlands) Boston, Chicago, New York and San Francisco (United States of America). Its 1,850 staff include more than 150 analysts covering 1,200 Asian companies across 13 sectors. In Taipei, CLSA had been represented by Credit Agricole Securities Taiwan.

CLSA’s Investor Forums

CLSA’s renowned Investor Forums are unrivalled for their content, corporate access and investor insights. These invitation-only events attract thousands of institutional investors to Asia each year from across the globe.

The 23rd CLSA Investors’ Forum from 19-23 September 2016, will feature Nobel Prize laureate Joseph Stiglitz, economist and scholar Robert Gordon, Financial Times columnist John Plender, pollster and author Frank Luntz, and many more specialist speakers.

References

External links

• CLSA
• CLSA Capital Partners