A Decade of Progress

In celebrating its Tenth Anniversary, the Securities and Futures Commission today pledges to continue to work together with the securities industry to help strengthen Hong Kong’s position as a leading international financial centre.

The SFC has organised a series of activities to commemorate its establishment on 1 May 1989. These include a reception at Government House officiated by the Acting Chief Executive The Honourable Mrs Anson Chan; unveiling of a new SFC logo by the Financial Secretary The Honourable Donald Tsang; and a lecture with senior securities regulators from mainland China, Australia and the United Kingdom as speakers.

A commemorative book, entitled A Decade of Progress, that charts the history of the securities market and the SFC milestones of the past decade has been published. An English-Chinese glossary on securities and futures terminology has also been released today to assist interested readers in their translation work.

The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, The Honourable Tung Chee Hwa, said in a message in A Decade of Progress: "This decade has been a challenging and revolutionary one for our securities and futures markets, as they have grown from principally domestic markets to become important players in the international arena."

"This could hardly have been accomplished without the dedicated and persistent efforts of the SFC as the market regulator to uphold regulatory standards and, more importantly, to bring them in line with international standards," Mr Tung said.

SFC Chairman Mr Andrew Sheng expressed gratitude to the Chief Executive, Mrs Anson Chan, and Mr Donald Tsang for their recognition of the SFC’s work and their personal support to the commemorative activities.

Mr Sheng also took the opportunity to thank all the Commission’s past and present staff and especially the three former Chairmen, Mr Robert Owen, Mr Robert Nottle and Mr Anthony Neoh for their invaluable contributions to the work and achievements of the Commission.

He said: "We value highly the strong support and encouragement of the financial community and the Government in our mission to ensure that the regulatory environment for the securities and futures markets in Hong Kong is market-friendly, promoting competition, innovation and growth."

Speaking after unveiling of the new SFC logo, Mr Sheng said: "The new logo of the Commission symbolises what the Commission has learnt from its first decade: that open, firm and fair regulation helps to create stable, prosperous, competitive and growing markets."

"These objectives remain true for the new Millennium," he added.

The new SFC logo has a simple and modern design that projects the SFC mission of creating a fair and level playing field for all. The grid block shape represents a solid legal framework. Subtly, the white lines between the blocks can be seen as the Chinese character "?" which also represents fairness and justice.

The choice of the aquamarine colour signifies clarity and openness. The parallel bars represent equality of treatment or a level playing field.

The new logo was designed after extensive internal consultation.

To emphasise the importance of co-operation and knowledge sharing among market participants, the SFC hosted a lecture this morning to examine the developments of securities and futures market regulation.

Speaking at the SFC Tenth Anniversary Lecture were Mr Zhou Zhengqing, Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Mr Phillip Thorpe, Managing Director of the Financial Services Authority, UK and Mr Robert Nottle, Deputy Managing Director of the Australian Stock Exchange. Mr Thorpe had held various positions in the Office of the Commissioner for Securities, Hong Kong, since 1981 and was Deputy Commissioner before he left the Office to become Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Futures Exchange after the 1987 market crisis. Mr Robert Nottle was Chairman of the SFC from 1992 to 1994.

The lecture, which will become an annual event, attracted more than 300 participants.

The SFC has also organised a Tenth Anniversary Reception for 300 distinguished guests at Government House in late afternoon.