Ant Group Names HKEX Chair Laura Cha to Board

 

Laura Cha, chair of the Hong Kong stock exchange, has been appointed an independent non-executive director of Ant Group, the financial technology unit of Jack Ma’s Alibaba group.

Ant planned to list in Hong Kong before its initial public offering was scrapped by mainland regulators.

As well as chairing Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, the bourse’s parent company, Cha also sits on the Hong Kong government’s executive council and until last month was a member of HSBC’s board.

Ant also appointed Yang Xiaolei, a former partner at the King & Wood Mallesons international law firm and a current director of Hengfeng Bank to the board.

Fred Hu, former Goldman Sachs China chairman, has left the Ant board, the company said.

ALSO SEE: China Seen Telling State Firms To Reveal Dealings With Ant

 

ESG Strategy

The move came on the day that Ant released its environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy as part of its latest sustainability report.

The ESG strategy lays out the group’s sustainable development objectives by 2030.

The four-part strategy includes digital inclusion by supporting 100 million small and micro-sized enterprises; green and low-carbon development; providing an “open ecosystem” and driving technology research and development.

“We believe these are the most important pillars for Ant Group to achieve sustainable growth in a future-facing, responsible, and responsive manner,” Ant Group’s chairman Eric Jing wrote.

“This framework will guide Ant’s value creation and sustainable development in the future.”

 

• George Russell

 

 

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