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Following is a question by the Hon Henry Wu and a written reply by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Frederick Ma, in the Legislative Council today (November 27):

Question:

Will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:

(a) the entry requirements and salary scales applicable to the various levels of staff (including senior and front-line staff) of the Intermediaries Supervision Department of the Securities and Futures Commission;

(b) the rank structure and strength of the Department at present; and

(c) under normal circumstances, the rank of staff deployed to intermediaries or intermediary organizations to carry out investigations or discharge duties; and their longest, shortest and average length of service?

Reply:

Madam President,

In response to the Honourable Member's question, we have sought relevant information from the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), as follows:

(a) The entry requirements for staff of the Intermediaries Supervision Department (ISD) of the SFC are that staff at senior manager level are required to have a university degree and minimum 8 years of proven relevant work experience in financial services, auditing or risk management. Staff at manager level are required to have a university degree and minimum 5 years of proven relevant work experience. Those with fewer years of relevant experience will be considered for position of Assistant Manager. For staff at Associate Director and Director levels, more than 10 years of proven relevant work experience are usually required.

In determining the salary, SFC largely draws reference from the prevailing market rates and the availability of people with the required experience and skill set. The overall pay objective of SFC is to ensure that SFC's pay is in line with the market rate to attract and retain high quality employees.

(b) The rank structure and strength of the ISD are as follows:

  Grade                               Staff Number

  -----                               -------------

  Director                                  1

  Associate Director                        3

  Senior Manager                            8

  Manager                                  29

  Assistant Manager                        15

  Secretaries and clerical staff           12

  Executive trainee and manager trainee     4

                                          ----

  Total                                    72

(c) Staff deployed to intermediaries to carry out investigation or discharge duties work in teams. The teams usually consist of assistant managers and managers led by senior managers or associate directors.

In terms of years of service in the SFC, staff of the ISD have on average 3.7 years of service. Amongst existing staff, the longest length of service is 13.5 years and the shortest is 1.15 years.

In terms of years of relevant work experience, staff of the ISD have on average 9.8 years of relevant work experience. The longest work experience is 23.4 years and the shortest is 2.6 years.

End/Wednesday, November 27, 2002

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