HK Financial Official Urges Good Corporate Governance

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, November 09, 2002

HK Financial Official Urges Good Corporate Governance

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Hong Kong Secretary for FinancialServices and the Treasury Frederick Ma called Friday for action from all financial market participants to ensure good corporate governance and Hong Kong's reputation as an international financial center.

Nobody could afford to be complacent and the Hong Kong government certainly was not, he said at the conference on "Corporate Governance in Hong Kong and China: No time for Complacency" jointly organized by the South China Morning Post andthe Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (HKEx).

"This is no time for complacency, it is time for action," Ma said.

Noting that the International Monetary Fund has ranked Hong Kong as the region's leader in good corporate governance and that Hong Kong has a pretty good record of enforcement, Ma said nevertheless, problems precipitated by the economic slow down havefocused the community on what is and is not acceptable behavior onthe part of market participants and their professional advisers.

"When times are bad, the risks of fraud and other forms of abuse increase, and at such times extra vigilance is required of all participants: not just the regulators, but also directors, auditors, investment bankers, lawyers, valuers, shareholders and analysts," he said.

Ma emphasized that good corporate governance could not be legislated.

"It has to come from responsible professional advice, responsible corporate leadership and equally responsible investor scrutiny."

Ma said the government's job is to provide a regulatory framework which should ideally facilitate capital allocation whileprotecting the rights of minority shareholders.

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