Hong Kong Monetary Authority Annual Report 1997
ADMINISTRATION
OBJECTIVE
The objective of the Administration Division of the HKMA is to provide the best possible infrastructural support to facilitate line managers in accomplishing their tasks. The HKMA strives to ensure an efficient allocation of resources, enhancing staff productivity, and fostering good communication between management and staff. To this end, the HKMA needs to keep abreast of changing demands and make appropriate adjustment to the organization's resources.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES
During the year, the most significant change in the HKMA's organizational structure was the taking over of the day-to- day management of the Land Fund from 1 July 1997 when staff serving in the former Land Fund Secretariat were offered employment with the HKMA. A new Executive Director was appointed to head the new Land Fund Office, where the organizational and staffing structure remained largely unchanged from that of the former Land Fund Secretariat.
There were two new Division Head posts created in the course of the year. One was to head the new Market Development Division, which undertakes researches into China's financial markets and policies. The other one is to serve as an HKMA representative stationed at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London.
On the other hand, the Planning Division, which was set up to plan and organize the 1997 World Bank Group/IMF Annual Meetings, was disbanded soon after the Meetings were successfully held in September 1997. An organization chart of the HKMA as at the end of 1997 is on page 6.
STAFFING
The turnover rate generally remained stable. 91 staff from the former Land Fund Secretariat joined the new Land Fund Office of the HKMA in July 1997.
A breakdown of the establishment of the HKMA as at the end of December 1997 is set out in Tables 1 and 2.
STAFF DEVELOPMENT
The HKMA believes that investment in staff training will result in improvement in organizational performance and the ability of its staff to handle crisis in the rapidly changing financial market. In a bid to continuously upgrade the expertise of its staff, the HKMA has endeavoured to provide various specialist training courses and attachment programmes for staff. In 1997, HKMA provided 3,102 training man-days for staff which included 379 man-days and 2,723 man-days of overseas training and local training respectively. On average, each staff attended 6.3 days of training during the year.
In conjunction with the City University of Hong Kong, the HKMA has successfully developed a Master of Science Programme in Banking which aims to provide its staff with intense exposure to the modern theories and practices in central banking, commercial banking and finance. The Programme is a two-year part-time evening course. Since October 1997, 20 Managers and Assistant Managers from the Banking Departments have attended the course. To ensure that our Assistant Managers in the Banking Departments are well versed in the banking supervisory knowledge, all newly recruited Assistant Managers are required to attend a two-month Enhanced Induction Course in their first year of service. On successful completion of the course, they are granted exemptions to the two modules on 'Banking Regulations and Supervision' of the Programme.
To keep staff updated with knowledge of the evolving financial market and banking operations, arrangement was made for mid-level managers to attend courses on Capital Market, Assets/ Liabilities Management and Treasury and Derivatives Risks Management taught by expert speakers from the HKMA and the Federal Reserve System of the US.
On the personal development side, courses including team building, stress management, and media training were arranged for various levels of staff to improve their skills in self management and in handling interpersonal relationships.
Apart from local courses, the HKMA also sent its staff overseas to gain international exposure. During the year, 24 staff members attended courses organized by the Bank of England, the Swiss National Bank, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the BIS, the IMF, the World Bank and SEACEN. In addition, three staff members were seconded to work in the Bank of England, the IMF and the World Bank for nine months to one year. These attachment programmes have proved to be very successful and will be extended to cover other central banks in future.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DIVISION
1997 was a busy year in the Information Technology (IT) Division - supporting various business units in the HKMA and delivering quality IT services to increase staff productivity and improve work efficiency and effectiveness through the strategic deployment of IT.
STRAIGHT-THROUGH PROCESSING IN RESERVES AND MONETARY MANAGEMENT
Enhancements in the Reserves and Monetary Management system had enabled HKMA's reserves and monetary operations to achieve straight-through processing in the implementation of a deal capturing system "CityDealer". This system allows dealers to input deals directly into the system for back-office settlement electronically.
BANKING SUPERVISION SYSTEM ADOPTING ELECTRONIC COMMERCE TECHNOLOGY
The adoption of electronic commerce technology - encryption, electronic authentication and electronic signature of authorized personnel, in the Banking Supervision system had allowed electronic submission of banking returns in the STET system. Implementation of this secured STET system has enabled the HKMA to develop essential technical and operational know-how in electronic commerce, including the operation of the first Certificate of Authority in Hong Kong.
IMPROVEMENTS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES
To improve IT infrastructure services, a comprehensive set of office automation services was delivered in 1997. They include electronic mail among the HKMA, the HKMC, the Land Fund Office, HKMA's New York Office and Quarry Bay Office; sending and receiving fax on individual PC's; Internet connectivity through the electronic mail network; and administrative work automation, suchas annual budgeting and annual staff appraisal.
CONTINGENCY PLANS
In early 1997, a secondary computer centre was established in HKMA's Quarry Bay Office. This office is linked to the central office by a very high-speed fibre optic cable. Also, a study was conducted and found that all in-house computer systems in the HKMA are already Year 2000 compliant. To further ensure full compliance, an exhaustive testing programme is underway and will be completed by end of 1998.
CHALLENGES
With the sound establishment of IT infrastructure and services in place in the HKMA, the challenge ahead for the IT Division is to continue to integrate IT into HKMA's business strategy, and in turn to enhance the HKMA's ability to maintain Hong Kong's position as a leading financial centre. Plans to establish HKMA's first Intranet is underway to provide structural knowledge bases to enhance communication between internal and external parties.