David Webb (activist)
| David Webb | |
|---|---|
Webb in May 2013
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
David Michael Webb 29 August 1965 London, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Residence | Hong Kong |
| Alma mater | Exeter College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Activist |
| Profession | Investment banker |
David Michael Webb (born 29 August 1965 in London, England) is an activist and analyst in Hong Kong. He is a retired investment banker, and now devotes much of his time to advocating solutions for better corporate and economic governance in Hong Kong. He is also a significant investor in smaller companies listed on the , and is frequently called upon by the media to comment on all matters relating to corporate and economic governance.
Webb graduated in Mathematics from Exeter College, Oxford in 1986. From 1981 to 1986 he was also an author of books and games for early home computers, particularly the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. He authored the Pac Man type game Spookyman and went on to create the acclaimed 3D Vector graphics game Starion on the Spectrum.
After graduation he became an investment banker in London. He moved to Hong Kong in 1991.
He retired from investment banking in 1998, and now lobbies extensively for increased transparency and public accountability of directors of public companies as well as for the Government of Hong Kong.
Webb was appointed as a Deputy Chairman of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission's Takeover and Mergers Panel on 1 April 2013, having commenced serving as member on 1 April 2001.
Webb has been referred to as the "'Long Hair' of the financial markets" (in an allusion to Leung Kwok-hung), but his activism is not purely restricted to the finance sector. He uses his eponymous webb-site.com as his official mouthpiece on all matters commercial and political.
In 2003, he launched "Project Poll", in which he purchased 10 shares in each of the 33 constitutents of the Hang Seng Index, registering them in 5 names (himself, his wife and 3 BVI companies he owned) and used company law to demand poll voting (1 share, 1 vote) rather than a show of hands in all their shareholder meetings. This eventually led to a change of Hong Kong Listing Rules ot require poll voting in all companies from 2009 onwards. Also in 2003, he launched Project VAMPIRE (Vote Against Mandate for Placings, Issues by Rights Excepted), to oppose resolutions that allow for massive issues of shares for cash without offering them to existing shareholders, negating pre-emption rights.
In December 2005, he advocated widening the electorate of the functional constituencies, arguing that professionals in fields such as bankers and stockbrokers should get to elect their own representatives. He observed then that only accountants, lawyers, doctors and teachers are able to exercise that right; stockbrokers are represented by convicted fraudster Chim Pui-chung, whilst the banking seat has only been contested once in 20 years. During the 2014 Hong Kong protests, he said that the economic impact of the protests was minor compared to the large economic benefits of a more dynamic economy that would come from democracy, ending collusion between the Government and the tycoons who currently elect the Chief Executive.
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