**********************************************************
The Financial Secretary has appointed Mr Paul Kennedy as the new Executive Director/Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) under the authority delegated by the Chief Executive pursuant to the Securities and Futures Ordinance. Mr Kennedy's term of appointment will be for three years, from October 16, 2006 to October 15, 2009.
Announcing the appointment today (October 3), a government spokesman said that Mr Kennedy was selected through an open recruitment exercise, and possessed extensive management and operational experience in the financial services field.
Mr Kennedy was previously a partner of KPMG Hong Kong, and has more than 20 years' experience in providing services to leading financial institutions in Hong Kong, Mainland China and Asia Pacific. The functions of the Executive Director/COO are to assume full management responsibility for the Corporate Affairs Division of the SFC, which is responsible for overseeing SFC's corporate communications, investor education and communications, Commission Secretariat, finance and administration, human resources, training and development, and information technology.
A selection panel chaired by the Chief Executive Officer of SFC, Mr Martin Wheatley, was appointed by the Financial Secretary to conduct the recruitment of the COO. Other members of the Selection Panel include Dr York Liao, Mr Christopher Cheng and Deputy Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury (Financial Services) Mrs Sarah Kwok.
Ends/Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Issued at HKT 16:30
NNNN