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The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam, visited the Treasury at Immigration Tower in Wan Chai this afternoon (April 28) to better understand the work of the department and talk to its staff.
Mrs Lam first met with the Director of Accounting Services, Mr Martin Siu, and the directorate officers, and was briefed on the work of the department in fund management, central accounting, collections and payments, payment of civil service salaries, pensions and benefits, as well as on the provision of accounting and financial management systems and services for the Government.
Accompanied by Mr Siu, Mrs Lam then toured various offices of the department. She first visited the Fund Management Branch to learn more about its fund management work. The Treasury manages the investment portfolios of the Grant and Subsidized Schools Provident Funds, the Quality Education Fund, the Sir David Trench Fund for Recreation, the Beat Drugs Fund, the AIDS Trust Fund, the HKSAR Government Scholarship Fund and the Self-financing Post-secondary Education Fund, to achieve a reasonable investment return through prudent investment. It is also responsible for managing the accounts and finance of the funds, including compiling fund accounts and arranging payments. During the visit, Mrs Lam chatted with the officers of the branch and commended them for meeting their work challenges with professionalism.
Mrs Lam then visited the Treasury Accounts Branch and watched a demonstration of settling payments of government bills and fees with e-Cheques through the Pay e-Cheque portal. Starting from December 7, 2015, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the banking industry have introduced the e-Cheque service in stages. Also starting the same day, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government took the lead in launching the Pay e-Cheque portal, through which the public could settle payments for general demand notes and part of tax demand notes using e-Cheques. The E-Cheque service and the Pay e-Cheque portal provide an efficient, convenient and environmentally friendly way for the public to settle government bills and payments by electronic means anytime and anywhere. Mrs Lam was glad to learn that more government bills could be settled by e-Cheque later this year, and pointed out that the adoption of e-payment could streamline procedure and improve efficiency. She also encouraged the staff to be innovative and provide quality services to the public.
Before concluding the visit, Mrs Lam met the new Treasury Accountants and Accounting Officers who were receiving the department's induction training course. She encouraged them to uphold the commitment and professionalism of the Treasury grades and dedicate themselves to providing quality accounting and financial management services to the Government in their various posts, whether in the Treasury headquarters or other government departments.
Ends/Thursday, April 28, 2016
Issued at HKT 17:59
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