Striking a balance

Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission looks set to ease rules on index futures and options, as it has on licensing of hedge fund managers. But it is concerned about credit discipline. Joe Marsh talks to its chief executive, Martin Wheatley

When Martin Wheatley was approached two years ago on a Swiss ski slope about joining Hong Kong's securities and futures market regulator, his interest was piqued immediately. "What was so exciting about the opportunity was that it was in one of the fastest-growing regions of the world economically," he says, "much like London in the 1990s."

Wheatley first became executive chairman of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), in October 2005, then chief executive in June last year when the