Top choice for post of chief holds pay talks
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority's (HKMA) deputy chief executive Andrew Sheng Len-tao is in the final stage of negotiations on accepting the position of chairman of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC).
He is likely to formally assume the role from Anthony Neoh in September, according to sources.
Mr Sheng is understood to be in discussions with the Government about his financial package, having already reached broad agreement about the scope of his responsibilities as SFC chief.
Mr Neoh's annual salary is $5.6 million, according to the latest SFC report, which is in line with Mr Sheng's present HKMA salary.
However, it is understood he has been offered an increase as part of the Government's plan to make the position attractive to Mr Sheng as its preferred candidate.
Mr Sheng refused to comment on the appointment. The authority's chief executive Joseph Yam Chi-kwong also refused to comment on the impact Mr Sheng's departure would have on the HKMA.
Mr Neoh was to have vacated the position at the end of next month. But he was urged to remain for three more months while the search for his successor continued.
His decision to postpone his departure also gave the authority ample time to find a successor for Mr Sheng.
Mr Sheng, 52, joined the HKMA as deputy chief executive in October 1993. During his tenure, his prime responsibility has been reserves management. This has included the investment and risk management of the $636.6 billion Exchange Fund.
He is also in charge of the $195.6 billion Land Fund Office which was put under the management of the HKMA after the handover last June as a separate portfolio from the Exchange Fund.
He is also responsible for information technology and the authority's external relations.
Mr Sheng initially rejected approaches for him to come forward as a candidate. However, he changed his mind in April and began a participating process centred around a election panel chaired by Financial Secretary Donald Tsang Yam-kuen.
Several foreign candidates have emerged. However, it is understood that the Government has had a clear, if unstated, preference for a local candidate.
This has assisted Mr Sheng's candidacy, although there is broad agreement that his performance at the authority has justified his position as the front runner.
Mr Sheng is a Malaysian Chinese who is fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin and English. He received a first-class honours degree in economics from the University of Bristol, England, in 1969.
He was then awarded a fellowship at the Institute of Chartered Accountants, England and Wales, in 1982.
Before he joined the monetary authority in 1993, he spent 13 years at Bank Negara - Malaysia's central bank - and was later seconded to the World Bank in Washington.
During his four years at the World Bank, he advised on financial-sector reforms in a number of developing countries, including the mainland.
