Appointment of Mr Tony Latter as Deputy Chief Executive of HKMA

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) today (23 September 1998) announced that the Financial Secretary has approved the appointment of Mr Tony Latter as Deputy Chief Executive with effect from 4 January 1999. The vacancy arises following Mr Andrew Sheng's departure to assume the Chairmanship of the Securities and Futures Commission on 1 October 1998. Mr Sheng will be replaced by Mr Norman Chan, serving Deputy Chief Executive, and Mr Latter will take up the position vacated by Mr Chan. There may be some minor reshuffling of duties of these two Deputy Chief Executives in due course.

Mr Latter has, since 1967, held a variety of senior positions in the Bank of England. He has also served on secondments to the Bank for International Settlements (Basle), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (Paris), the International Monetary Fund (Washington DC), as well as the Hong Kong Government where he took up the position of Deputy Secretary for Monetary Affairs from 1982 to 1985. He was one of the original architects for the linked exchange rate system which was established in October 1983, and has continued throughout the years to maintain close association with Hong Kong in his professional and private capacity.

Mr Joseph Yam, Chief Executive of the HKMA, warmly thanked Mr Sheng for his important contributions to the HKMA during his five years of service. "The prudent management and impressive growth of Hong Kong's official reserves, now the third largest in the world, are widely respected, and a great deal of the credit for this goes to Mr Sheng and his team," said Mr Yam. "Although we are sorry to see him leave the HKMA, we are very glad that the financial community of Hong Kong will continue to benefit from his expertise. We wish him the very best in his new appointment as Chairman of the Securities and Futures Commission," Mr Yam added.

"Mr Latter will bring to the HKMA a wealth of experience in central banking and international monetary operations," said Mr Yam. "We look forward to welcoming him on board in the new year."

Hong Kong Monetary Authority

23 September 1998