IR Magazine Forum & Awards
Greater China

Thursday, December 7, 2023

About the forum & awards

For the past three decades, IR Magazine has honored excellence in investor relations around the world. For 2023, we continue to recognize and help further IR best practice. Last year, over 200 senior IR professionals joined us in a virtual setting – this internationally renowned event looked at the very best the IR community has to offer through our forum and awards.

THE FORUM

The event kicks off with a forum where investors, analysts and heads of IR from small, mid and large cap companies came together to discuss key issues relating to investor relations, corporate governance, shareholder needs and the role of senior management in IR.

THE AWARDS

We present two types of awards categories – researched and nominated – both celebrating the success of those individuals and companies that are leading the way in IR in Greater China.

For our researched categories, companies do not submit nominations. Instead, hundreds of analysts and investors cast their votes and give their opinions on which companies do the best IR in the region.

In our nominated categories, companies have the opportunity to submit a written entry for aspects of IR that complement our researched categories. More information can be found in the sections below.

Download the entry pack containing all of the guidelines and information in one placeClick here

Agenda: 2022

We will be announcing our 2023 agenda in due course. In the meantime, click here to see the full agenda as a PDF.

All times are in Hong Kong Standard Time.

09:00 AM
Opening remarks: Welcome to the forum

James Beech, editor-in-chief, IR Magazine
09:05 AM
Capital market and macro-economic trends to prepare for in 2023
In a time of geopolitical turmoil and market uncertainty, this session focuses on the outlook for IR teams in 2023 – and how IROs can prepare for the year ahead.
- Current market trends in Asia and predictions for the coming 12 months
- China’s position on the international stage and the political relationship between US and China
- Regulatory outlook in 2023 and how this affects fund flows and investor sentiment
- Specific risks and opportunities in the coming months for certain sectors
Helen Qiao, chief Greater China economist, head of Asia economic research, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
09:35 AM
Top IR trends in the current macroeconomic climate

40% of respondents in a recent IR survey by Citigate Dewe Rogerson cited the volatile external environment as a key communications challenge. In this fireside chat, we look at all the key trends IR teams need to be aware of as we prepare for the year ahead.

Moderator: Tim Human, senior reporter, IR Magazine
Benny Liu, managing director and head of China, Citigate Dewe Rogerson
10:00 AM
Networking break
10:15 AM
Increasing digital engagement with international investors in a hybrid world
With traditional social media routes inaccessible in China and a return to blanket virtual events and meetings due to COVID, planning a robust digital targeting strategy for 2023 is an IR imperative.
- What are the common challenges IR teams face in Greater China when seeking foreign investment?
- Hear from IR professionals with current, highly successful digital engagement programs
- Discuss innovative solutions to working around the challenges of ‘The Great Firewall’
- Increasing your online visibility/impact in an increasingly digital world (cutting through the noise), how do you stand-out
Moderator: Tim Human, senior reporter, IR Magazine
Jenny Huang, managing director, APAC, Euroland IR
Calvin Pei, vice president of corporate finance and strategy, PAX Global Technology
10:45 AM
Responding to investor needs around ESG: What is expected and how to deliver it?
With ESG remaining a key issue at the top of the IR agenda, this session will provide insight into what investors are looking for and how to craft an ESG narrative that meets expectations.
- Learn from prominent sell-side analysts about how decisions around ESG investing are made
- Debate the motivations around ESG to learn what investors want in the current climate
- Hear from representatives who are leading the way in the region with their compelling ESG stories
Moderator: James Beech, editor-in-chief, IR Magazine
Kok Siong Ng, executive director and chief financial officer, Link Asset Management
11:15 AM
Networking break
11:30 AM
Planning your schedule for 2023: What does an effective hybrid IR program look like?
Since the COVID-19 pandemic forced businesses to switch in-person events to online, many companies have begun to recognize the myriad benefits of virtual working. This session will consider taking a truly hybrid approach to IR and re-writing the rule book on effectively engaging with current and future investors.
- Discover how other IR professionals have adapted to the challenges and opportunities of the new hybrid landscape
- Learn how to take your virtual engagement to the next level and build strong relationships with your target audience
- Find out how best to utilize your management’s time and resources within a virtual framework
Moderator: James Beech, editor, IR Magazine
Rui Hua Chang, Group head, capital markets and investor relations, ESR Group
Michelle Shen, director of IR, Yum China Holdings
12:00 PM
Investor and analyst Q&A: Expectations of IR teams during uncertainty in 2023
During this exclusive session, our panel of investors and analysts will address any concerns and questions from the audience about the coming months.
- What sectors and types of companies are investors favoring going into 2023?
- What are their predictions concerning economic trends, and how can IR teams best prepare for them?
- Understand how investors like to be approached by investor relations teams in the current environment
- Understand what international investors are looking for when investing overseas
- What do investors want from IR in a hybrid world and during a global downturn?
Moderator: Tim Human, senior reporter, IR Magazine
William Tsang, head of research, portfolio manager, Chartwell Capital
Tony Watson, portfolio manager, Far East Investment Management
Simon Weston, fund manager, AXA Investment Managers
12:30 PM
Closing remarks and networking

James Beech, editor-in-chief, IR Magazine
12:45 PM
IR Magazine Awards – Greater China
14:00 PM
End of forum and awards

Awards by nomination

For our awards-by-nomination categories, individuals and companies are given the opportunity to submit written entries to be put forward to a panel of expert judges made up of investment professionals and IR Magazine editorial team members.

Now accepting nominations!

We are now accepting nominations for the 2023 awards! Click here to access the entry form and find out how to submit your entries. The deadline to submit nominations is midnight (HKT) on Friday, August 18.

To view the full list of 2022 nominees and winners click here.

If you have any questions, please contact [email protected] or +44 20 8004 5339.

Nominated categories
Panel

Best annual report

Are shareholders and analysts raving about the quality of your annual print or online report? Give us your vision of good reporting practice. Judges will be looking for a well-articulated equity story, ease of flow or navigation, state-of-the-art design, consistency/complementarity and improvement between different reports.

Best annual report (small to mid-cap)

Are shareholders and analysts raving about the quality of your annual print or online report? Give us your vision of good reporting practice. Judges will be looking for a well-articulated equity story, ease of flow or navigation, state-of-the-art design, consistency/complementarity and improvement between different reports.

Best crisis management

Have you recently dealt with an unexpected event threatening your company's business or reputation? Tell us about your ‘crisis ready’ plan, the strategy you implemented when the storm hit, and how the IR team’s actions successfully protected or restored shareholder value.

Best ESG reporting

Companies face growing demands to inform investors about the risk and opportunities - they face from a range of ESG issues. Describe how your company was able to meet the demands of shareholders looking for substance in ESG reporting?

Best innovation in shareholder communications

In this catch-all category, judges are looking for IR teams who have had to think out of the box in the past 12-18 months to update their shareholder communications campaign and keep up with the evolving needs and wants of the investor community. We’re looking for that tiny little spark of innovation that sets your company apart!

Best investor event

Did you hold a capital markets day, site visit or other investor event that made your company stand out from the crowd? Tell us how you came up with an original initiative, the way you managed its organization, and how your audience’s expectations were met; audience feedback is also welcome.

Best IR during a corporate transaction

How did your IR team go above and beyond to support a recent corporate transaction? Let us know the details. We’ll be looking at the IR team’s involvement in crafting/releasing the messaging for the financial markets and how it organized outreach and dialogue to gain approval from key shareholders.

Best IR website

The IR website is the first point of contact for an IRO’s audience. We want to hear from companies that have developed a best-in-class website displaying top-notch customer experience, engaging content that meets analysts’ and investors’ needs, and multiplatform access.

Best use of multimedia for IR

Are you a tech-savvy IRO always looking out for cutting-edge technological solutions for IR? Describe the innovative ways you have incorporated video, audio, infographics or webcasts into your IR program. Judges will be looking for evidence of heightened investor and analyst engagement via these channels.

Rising star

This award seeks to honor individuals who bring fresh thinking and a unique approach to the profession. This category is open to anyone who has been working in IR for less than five years and has less than 10 years of professional experience.

The awards-by-nomination categories differ from our traditional researched awards, as individuals and companies are given the opportunity to submit written entries to be put forward to a panel of expert judges made up of investment professionals and IR Magazine editorial team members.

The judging process consists of three simple phases:

Phase one: Once the entry deadline has passed, the IR Magazine editorial team reviews all submissions and produces the short list

Phase two: The short-listed entries are shared with an independent judging panel made up of industry experts. The judges review each short-listed entry and select their top two picks per category

Phase three: The judges come together to discuss, debate and select the final list of winners who will go on to win an award

The judges’ votes are not made public, but their comments may be published in articles or reports after the event. Judges are not required to make comments against every submission.

Click here to view the judges biographies.

Download the entry pack containing all of the guidelines and information in one placeClick here

Register your interest for 2023

Please fill in the form below for updates about the 2023 IR Magazine Forum & Awards – Greater China.

If you have any questions, please contact Thomas Williams at [email protected] or +44 208 090 2156.

Register your interest

Awards by research

Our awards-by-research nominees are determined by the input of hundreds of analysts and portfolio managers, who give their opinions on which companies provide them with the best IR service in the Greater China region. Every year we invite any publicly listed company to submit their list of buy and sell-side analysts and portfolio managers, so that they have the opportunity to vote via our survey.

Please click on the tabs below to view the research timeline. If you have any questions on this process or wish to access our data sharing agreement, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions page. For any further queries about the research, please contact [email protected].

To view the full list of 2022 nominees and winners click here.

Researched categories
How the winners are chosen

Best overall investor relations (large cap)

This category covers companies that have most impressed the investment community with their overall IR program.

Best overall investor relations (mid-cap)

This category covers companies that have most impressed the investment community with their overall IR program.

Best overall investor relations (small cap)

This category covers companies that have most impressed the investment community with their overall IR program.

Best investor relations officer (large cap)

This category is for individual IROs whose knowledge of their company and sector and whose ability to build relationships with members of the investment community and to be transparent, accessible and responsive, sets them apart.

Best investor relations officer (mid-cap)

This category is for individual IROs whose knowledge of their company and sector and whose ability to build relationships with members of the investment community and to be transparent, accessible and responsive, sets them apart.

Best investor relations officer (small cap)

This category is for individual IROs whose knowledge of their company and sector and whose ability to build relationships with members of the investment community and to be transparent, accessible and responsive, sets them apart.

Best in sector: communications

Best in sector: consumer discretionary

Best in sector: consumer staples

Best in sector: financials (including real estate)

Best in sector: healthcare

Best in sector: industrials

Best in sector: technology

Our awards by research are different from most others and also from our awards by nomination: for our awards by research, companies do not submit nominations. The winners are identified by in-depth research and any publicly traded company is eligible to be considered. This survey is the only one of its kind to go directly to the investment community, canvassing the opinions of the people who matter to you most.

May-August: Online survey
IR Magazine has been building investment community databases over the past 30 years. As part of the updating process, listed companies are contacted every year for details of the professionals who currently cover their stock. IR Magazine then conducts an electronic survey of buy-side and sell-side analysts and portfolio managers. Each survey respondent is asked to nominate and rank up to five companies in a host of different research categories, from best IRO to best reporting.

September-October: Results analysis & short lists announced
Analysis of the results begins once the survey stage of the research is complete. Points are allocated to each company depending on how frequently it is nominated. The companies with the highest point scores in each individual awards category make the short list for that award. The top company will go on to win the award. Best-in-region awards are determined by the highest aggregate scores across all research categories.

The IR Magazine awards team receives the results and contacts all short-listed companies to give them the good news. The short lists are then published to the entire IR community a month before the event.

December: Winners announced
The winners are announced at our awards ceremony, which is attended by the leading lights of the Asian investor relations community.

January: Report published
After the event the Investor Perception Study – Asia report will be made available to professional subscribers to IR Magazine. This report will profile the top ranked companies and reveal information on how they conduct their IR activities and why investors voted for them.

For more information around the investor survey, please contact [email protected].

Who attends our events

The majority of our attendees are heads of IR from across Greater China who are being recognized for their fantastic contribution to IR. Each participant is someone with an established track record and a strategic IR role within his or her company.

Below is a sample list of attendees who have joined our event in the past:

Job title	Company	Job title	Company
Assistant manager, IR	Fubon Financial Holding Co	IR director	AliHealth
Associate director, IR	AIA Company	IR director	Hygeia Healthcare Holding Co
Chief financial officer	CANbridge Pharmaceuticals	IR director & company secretary	China Resources Beer (Holdings) Company
Chief manager, ESG and IR	China Construction Bank Corporation	IR officer	ANTA Sports Products
Director, capital market & IR	ZhongAn online P&C Insurance Co	IR specialist	Precision Tsugami (China) Corporation
Director, investor relationships	Haier Smart Home Co	Manager, sustainability and communications	Kerry Properties
Director, IR	CLP	Officer, IR	Minsheng
Director, IR	Koolearn	Officer, IR department	China Telecom Corporation
Director, IR	Tongcheng Travel	Senior director, IR	China Modern Dairy Holdings
General manager, capital market	Anton Oil	Senior director, IR	NetDragon Websoft Holdings
Group investor relations manager	CK Hutchison Holdings	Senior executive, R	NagaCorp
Head of communications	InnoCare Pharma	Senior investor relations analyst	Central China Real Estate
Head of corporate communication	Transcenta Holding	Senior IR director	Yum China Holdings
Head of IR & sustainability	ENN Energy	Senior manager	MicroPort Scientific Corporation
Head of IR	MTR Corporation	Senior manager, IR and sustainability	Xtep International Holdings
Head of IR	Shenwan Hongyuan Group Co	Senior manager, IR	The People’s Insurance Company
Head of IR & capital market	Brii Biosciences	Senior officer, IR	COSCO Shipping International (Hong Kong) Co
Head of research, portfolio manager	Chartwell Capital	Senior officer, IR	Yue Yuen Industrial (Holdings)
International digital content manager	Ping An Insurance	Senior vice president	Piacente Financial Communications
Investor relations officer	China Unicom (Hong Kong)	Treasurer & IR	Hysan Development Company LImited
IR & communication director	Xinyi Glass Holdings	VP, investor relations	Huobi Technology Holdings

Request full attendee list

What our attendees say

"Thank you very much for organizing the event! You have done a wonderful job putting together an awards ceremony during covid!"

Suncity Group Holdings

"It's a wonderful event to gather the best IR practitioners in one room and share the best practices. Great work for the IR Magazine team!"

BizLink Holding

"The topics and panels are very helpful to me as an IRO. Looking forward to participating other events by IR Magazine in the future!"

Anonymous

"Congratulations on the successful event! We thought the forum and awards ceremony were very well organized and smooth. "

Yue Yuen Industrial (Holdings)

"The event has been professionally organized and your moderators are exceptional!"

Euroland IR

"We all thought it went fantastically well; great content/speakers, fantastic chair and smooth logistics. It was a very impressive bunch of IR folks to gather in one room."

Andrews Partnership

"A wonderful event to networking with the best. I love panel sessions with fresh topics and professional insights. Great work for the IR Magazine team."

BizLink Holding

"Topics relevant and well-organized"

Yum China

Inquire about partnership

Partners

Bank of America

Bank of America

Forum & Awards Partners

Bank of America is one of the world’s largest financial institutions, serving large corporations, small and middle-market businesses and individual consumers in more than 150 countries with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk-management products and services. BofA Securities, the institutional broker dealer business of Bank of America, is a global leader in corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. The company provides, through various banking and broker-dealer affiliates, M&A advice, equity and debt capital-raising solutions, lending, risk management, treasury, liquidity and payments management. Bank of America Corporation is listed on the NYSE.

For more information, please visit www.bofaml.com.
EQS Group

EQS Group

Forum & Awards Partners

EQS Group is a recognised leading international solution provider (Saas) of regulatory technology (RegTech) in the areas of investor relations, corporate compliance, and ESG. In working with EQS Group, thousands of companies worldwide inspire trust by fulfilling complex national and international disclosure obligations, minimizing risks, and communicating transparently with stakeholders.

For more information, please visit www.eqs.com
Nasdaq

Nasdaq

Forum & Awards Partners

Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) is a leading global provider of trading, clearing, exchange technology, listing, information and public company services. Through its diverse portfolio of solutions, Nasdaq enables customers to plan, optimize and execute their business vision with confidence, using proven technologies that provide transparency and insight for navigating today’s global capital markets. As the creator of the world’s first electronic stock market, its technology powers more than 90 marketplaces in 50 countries, and 1 in 10 of the world’s securities transactions. Nasdaq is home to approximately 3,900 total listings with a market value of approximately $13 trillion.

To learn more, visit: business.nasdaq.com.
OTC Markets Group

OTC Markets Group

Forum & Awards Partners

OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM) operates regulated markets for trading 12,000 U.S. and international securities. Our data-driven disclosure standards form the foundation of our three public markets: OTCQX^® Best Market, OTCQB^® Venture Market and Pink^® Open Market.

Our OTC Link^® Alternative Trading Systems (ATSs) provide critical market infrastructure that broker-dealers rely on to facilitate trading. Our innovative model offers companies more efficient access to the U.S. financial markets.

OTC Link ATS, OTC Link ECN and OTC Link NQB are each an SEC regulated ATS, operated by OTC Link LLC, a FINRA and SEC registered broker-dealer, member SIPC.

To learn more about how we create better informed and more efficient markets, visit www.otcmarkets.com.

Book your place

The super early bird rate expires on October 13, 2023. After this date, the price will increase to the early bird rate of US$245 for an individual seat and US$2,205 for a table. The standard rate is US$345 for an individual seat and US$3,105 for a table.

If you have any questions, please contact Thomas Williams at [email protected] or +44 208 090 2156.

Individual seat

US$345

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Table of 10

U$3105

U$1,305

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Contact us

For partnership inquiries

Ross Ingram

+44 20 8004 0129
For awards inquiries

Lauren Wilson

+44 20 8004 5339
For all other inquiries

Thomas Williams

+44 20 8090 2156

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IR Media Group Ltd, the owner of IR Magazine, Corporate Secretary and IRspace, respect the privacy of every person who visits, registers with or subscribes to our websites and online publications, and is committed to ensuring a safe online experience. This privacy statement applies to all IR Media Group’s websites as listed under the heading ‘Sites’ and outlines the information IR Media Group may collect and how we may use that information. It also explains what we do with information about you when you register to attend one of our events.

IR Magazine Forum & AwardsGreater China

Thursday, December 7, 2023

About the forum & awards

THE FORUM

THE AWARDS

Agenda: 2022

Awards by nomination