Opinion | For new mainland elite, Hong Kong's financial future is personal
The creation of a government body to promote the city's financial market is another step towards a goal for a group with growing stake in the city
In 2009, a group of mainland financial professionals in Hong Kong put their names to an opinion piece calling for a new government entity to beef up and promote our financial market. Nobody listened.
They pushed on. They talked to officials and Leung Chun-ying, who was then tipped to make a run for the top job. They started a column in a financial daily to make their views known.
Early last year, they formed a bigger coalition - the China Financial Association of Hong Kong - with Levin Zhu Yunlai, the son of former premier Zhu Rongji, as one of its top advisers - and made a formal proposal on the issue to Leung in the chief executive election. They didn't hesitate to make this public.
On Wednesday, Leung announced the creation of just such an entity - the Financial Services Development Council. Five mainlanders, including three of the association's affiliates, have a quarter of the seats on the board (see list).
Will the council become another consultative body that produces nothing but reports, as some have predicted? I don't think so.