Approvals by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority under the Banking Ordinance

Following remarks made in the Legislative Council this afternoon (Wednesday) and Dr David Li's subsequent public request for a clarification concerning a recent approval given by the Monetary Authority in his own case, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has today issued the following statement.

The HKMA stands by the statistics on approvals of chief executives and directors of authorized institutions provided to the Legislative Council today.

With regard to the points raised by Dr Li about his own position, we wish to make it clear that the approval to which Dr Li refers is an entirely separate procedure from the approval that applies to chief executives or directors under section 71 of the Banking Ordinance. The question of double standards therefore does not arise.

In the case which Dr Li mentioned, the approval was given under section 73 of the Ordinance for the senior management of East Asia Finance and East Asia Credit, of which Dr Li was a member, to remain employees of the Bank of East Asia following the merger of these two institutions into the parent bank and the subsequent revocation of their authorization. Given the fact that the revocations of authorization were a result of a merger ordinance which took effect on 26 May 2003, the timing of the approval was dictated by the timing of the merger itself. A number of steps in the merger process had to be completed before the approval under section 73 could be given on 24 May 2003. This was the only reason for the four-week period between application and approval: the time taken for approval had no bearing on the fitness or properness of the individuals concerned.

For further enquiries, please contact:
Jasmin Fung, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246 or
Sylvia Yip, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
25 June 2003