Financial community bids farewell to trailblazing HK banker

Hong Kong financiers are mourning the death of pioneering capital markets banker Patrick Thomas, a driving force in the Hong Kong dollar bond market, and founder of boutique investment bank, Oakreed Financial Services.

Thomas, who was born in Faversham in Kent on June 26, 1947, died on September 15 in Haute-Nendaz in Switzerland, and a memorial service is being held in Switzerland on Friday, September 21.

Thomas, who read modern languages, before switching to law at Cambridge where he was awarded his hockey blue in 1967, worked at a variety of firms, including BP and Elf Aquitaine, before deciding to switch to banking – partly because he liked the idea of the favourable mortgage terms, and wanted to buy an apartment.

He joined the London-based subsidiary of Manufacturers Hanover, which is now part of JPMorganChase, and in 1983 was posted to Hong Kong as managing director of Manufacturers Hanover Asia, an active player in the syndicated loan and bond markets.

David Li Kwok-po, chairman and chief executive of the Bank of East Asia, which was to back Thomas when he set up his own firm, Oakreed Financial Services, described him “an innovator and a dear friend... and one of the true pioneers of the modern Hong Kong financial markets”.

“I always enjoyed his company. But what I most respected about him was his thoughtfulness. He was one of the most caring people that I have known, always putting others before himself. It just flowed naturally from him,” Li told the South China Morning Post by e-mail.