HONG KONG

Stock Exchange Chief Is Stepping Aside: Francis Yuen, chief executive of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, said he will resign, effective Oct. 18, to take the top job at Hang Chong Investment Co. A successor has not been named. The resignation comes at a time of discord at the exchange, whose members failed recently to adopt a package of wide-reaching reforms. As a result, local regulators will force a stricter version of the reforms on the exchange. Yuen rejected the suggestion that his departure was hastened by the rejection of the reform package, which he supported. Yuen, former managing director at Citicorp Scrimgeour Vickers Hong Kong Ltd., became the exchange’s executive director in October, 1988, a year after the exchange took the controversial step of closing down for four days after the 1987 market crash.