David Li

For other people named David Li, see David Li (disambiguation).

The Honourable Sir David Kwok-po Li GBM, GBS, OBE, JP
Sir David Li Kwok-po at Horasis Global China Business Meeting 2009 [1]
Member of the Legislative Council
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 September 1985 (&1000000000000002600000026 years, &1000000000000004500000045 days)
Constituency	Finance
Member of the Executive Council
In office October 2005 – 16 February 2008
Personal details
Born	13 March 1939 (1939-03-13) (age 72) London, England, United Kingdom
Alma mater	St. Joseph College

Sir David Li Kwok-po, GBM, GBS, OBE, JP (Chinese: 李國寶; born 13 March 1939, London, England) is a Hong Kong banker and politician.

He is the current Chairman and Chief Executive of the Bank of East Asia, member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong and former member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong.

Biography

Li's family roots are in Heshan, Guangdong. His great-grandfather, Li Shek-tang, made his fortune bringing rice to Hong Kong from Vietnam. In 1918, Li's great uncle and his grandfather, Li Koon-chun, founded the Bank of East Asia, the first Chinese-owned bank in the territory.^[2]

Education

Li was educated at Uppingham School in the United Kingdom and read Law at Selwyn College, University of Cambridge. He received a Honorary doctorate in law from the University of Warwick in July 1994 and another one from the University of Hong Kong in March 1996. In November 1996, he received an honourary doctorate of social sciences from Lingnan College.^[3] Li joined the Bank of East Asia in 1969, becoming Chief Executive in 1981 and Chairman in 1997.^{[citation needed]}

David Li is currently a member of the Legislative Council, elected in the functional constituency of Finance in 2004. He is also the current Pro-Chancellor of The University of Hong Kong. He was also appointed member of the Executive Council in October 2005, after renouncing his British citizenship. He resigned from the post in February 2008.

Family

Li's wife is Penny Li-Poon Kim Tsui (Chinese: 李潘金翠). Arthur Li, former Secretary for Education and Manpower, is his younger brother.

Board memberships

Li is also a director at several Hong Kong listed companies including fixed line phone carrier PCCW, SCMP Group and Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels. In addition, he is chairman of the Chinese Banks Association Ltd.^[4]

Dow Jones insider trading incident

On 1 May 2007, News Corporation made a public announcement of its bid for Dow Jones & Company. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission filed an initial complaint seven days later naming Wong Kan-king and his wife Charlotte, both residents of Hong Kong, as defendants after its investigation of suspicious share price movements in the run-up to the announcement. The SEC alleged that the couple purchased 415,000 shares through a Merrill Lynch Hong Kong account between from 13 April until 30 April,^[5] and had reaped a US$8.2 million profit on disposal following announcement of the bid.^[6]

The SEC later filed an amended complaint ("The First Amended Complaint") identifying the source of the information as David Li, who had obtained the information by being a board member of Dow Jones. The SEC alleged that Li had informed his close friend and business associate Michael Leung, who in turn told his daughter and son-in-law. The amended complaint added David Li and Michael Leung as co-defendants and details how Leung traded through the account of his daughter and son-in-law with their assistance.^[5][7]

At the end of January 2008, a settlement was reached where Li was ordered to pay an $8.1 million civil penalty, Leung to pay $8.1 million in disgorgement and an $8.1 million penalty; K. K. Wong would pay $40,000 in disgorgement plus prejudgment interest and a $40,000 civil penalty.^[5] Li would neither admit nor deny any wrongdoing^[7]

Li's integrity is being questioned by Legislators, and corporate gadfly David Webb was the first to put Li under pressure to relinquish his position as a member of both the Legislative and the Executive Councils of Hong Kong because of his implication in the affair.^[8] Several other legislators added to the pressure for Li to relinquish his cabinet (Exco) position,^[4][9] although there are divergent views on his continued LegCo membership.^[10] On February 17, 2008, Li announced his resignation from Exco.^[11]

Awards and recognition

Li was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1991 New Year Honours.^[12] In 2001, he was awarded the Gold Bauhinia Star by the government of Hong Kong.

In the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was made a Knight Bachelor by the United Kingdom for his contributions to British education.^[13] He also has honorary doctorates from University of Cambridge, Imperial College ^[14] and the University of Hong Kong. Li was awarded the Grand Bauhinia Medal in 2007.

See also

• Bank of East Asia
• Legislative Council of Hong Kong

References

1. ^ Official Website Global China Business Meeting 2009
2. ^ Keith Bradsher, "Dow Jones insider trading case goes global", International Herald Tribune, 9 May 2007
3. ^ Businessweek article on David Li Kwok-po
4. ^ ^{a b} Nipa Piboontanasawat, "Hong Kong Banker David Li Quits City's Cabinet After SEC Payout", Bloomberg, 17 February 2008
5. ^ ^{a b c} The News Corp-Dow Jones Insider Trading Case: A Significant Settlement, SEC Actions, 6 February 2008
6. ^ Eric Dash and Andrew Ross Sorkin, "Inquiry expected into possible Dow Jones insider trading", International Herald Tribune, 8 May 2007
7. ^ ^{a b} Benjamin Scent, "Li 'to pay $62m' to settle insider case", The Standard, 29 January 2008
8. ^ Mary Ma, "Attack on Li way off the mark", The Standard, 12 February 2008
9. ^ Bonnie Chen, "Li pressure mounts", The Standard, 15 February 2008
10. ^ Staff reporter, "Li should not seek reelection, says Tien", The Standard, 19 February 2008
11. ^ Bonnie Chen, "Friends and foes hail Li's `brave' Legco decision", The Standard, 18 February 2008
12. ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 52382. pp. 16–17. 28 December 1990. Retrieved 2007-11-21.
13. ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 57665. p. 2. 11 June 2005. Retrieved 2007-11-21. Li is still entitled to use "Sir" before his name although he abandoned his British nationality a few months after being knighted.
14. ^ "LegCo Members' Biographies"

External links

• David Li biodata at the Legislative Council of Hong Kong website

Legislative Council of Hong Kong
New seat	Member of Legislative Council Representative for Finance constituency 1998 – present	Incumbent
Order of precedence
Preceded by Lee Cheuk-yan Member of the Legislative Council	Hong Kong order of precedence Member of the Legislative Council	Succeeded by Fred Li Member of the Legislative Council

Persondata
Name	Li, David
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	13 March 1939
Place of birth	London, England, United Kingdom
Date of death
Place of death