Veteran Executive Quits CLSA Amid Exodus Reports

The chief executive of brokerage CLSA, Jonathan Slone, has resigned after 30 years at the Hong Kong-based broker.

His departure comes just two weeks after CLSA Chairman Tang Zhenyi stepped down amid reports of an exodus of senior executives.

The firm was bought by state conglomerate Citic in 2013.

The departures could signal growing management struggles between a western-style investment bank and a state-owned financial conglomerate.

Tang, who worked for China’s Ministry of Finance and for the World Bank in Washington before joining Citic Group in 2011, has been replaced by Zhang Youjun, who is also chairman of Citic Securities.

Slone joined CLSA in 1988 as regional research director, and oversaw CLSA’s global operations in broking, investment banking, asset management, research and sales. He also led the firm’s overseas expansion and set up its US operations in 1991.

Headquartered in Hong Kong, CLSA employs 2,000 people across 21 cities in Asia and Europe as well as in Australia and the United States, its website showed. (Additional reporting by Reuters)