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    The Financial Secretary today (April 12) appointed Mr Marvin Cheung as a member of the Board of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) for a term of two years.  Messrs Henry Fan and Fong Hup have also been re-appointed for a two-year term.  Their appointments take effect today after the HKEx's Annual General Meeting (AGM).

    Announcing the appointments, the Financial Secretary, Mr Henry Tang said, "The directorship is a commitment to serve the public interest.  Messrs Marvin Cheung, Henry Fan and Fong Hup are well-respected and prominent figures in the financial services industry.  We are glad that they have accepted the appointments."

    Mr Marvin Cheung retired as an accountant.  He is currently the Chairman of the Listing Committee of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.  Under Mr Cheung's chairmanship, the Listing Committee has successfully implemented a number of measures to improve corporate governance of listed companies, as well as the transparency of the Listing Committee.

    Mr Henry Fan is the Managing Director of CITIC Pacific Limited.  Mr Fan has extensive experience in the regulation of the financial markets.  He has served on the Securities and Futures Commission as a non-executive director for eight years and HKEx as an appointed director for more than one year.

    Mr Fong Hup is a Senior Adviser to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.  He has been serving on HKEx's board of directors for two years.  His profession as an accountant has been valuable to the work of the board.

    "We are also most grateful to Mr Leong Ka-chai who will retire from the Board of HKEx after the AGM today for his dedicated services and invaluable counsel to HKEx in the past five years, especially during the initial stage of the merger of the exchanges and clearing houses.  We trust that we could continue to count on his support for the future development of the securities and futures market of Hong Kong," Mr Tang added.

    The Board of HKEx comprises a maximum of six directors elected by shareholders, the Chief Executive of HKEx, and a maximum of six directors appointed by the Financial Secretary.  The other directors appointed by the Financial Secretary are Messrs Charles Lee, Tim Freshwater and K S Lo.  

    "We trust all the directors will work closely together to the best interest of both HKEx and the public as a whole," Mr Tang said.

    The appointments are made under the Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO).  The Ordinance, together with HKEx's Articles of Association, empowers the Financial Secretary to appoint not more than six persons to be members of the board of directors of HKEx where the Financial Secretary is satisfied that it is appropriate to do so in the interest of the investing public or in the public interest.

    According to section 63(2)(a) of SFO, HKEx has the statutory duty to act in the interest of the public, having particular regard to the interest of the investing public.

Ends/Tuesday, April 12, 2005

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