Some of the most important Chinese bankers in the territory have formed an exclusive club to organise a handover party for the financial services industry - and in doing so have helped reveal the shape of things to come.
The Hong Kong Financial Community Committee for the Celebration of Reunification of Hong Kong with China is headed by a star-studded group of six Chinese chairmen.
Notably absent from the committee's ruling council is a representative from Hongkong Bank, the territory's largest.
The members of the prestigious inner circle are Bank of China Hong Kong-Macau regional office chief executive Yang Zilin, Hang Seng Bank chairman Sir Quo-wei Lee, Bank of East Asia chairman David Li Kwok-po, Hong Kong stock exchange chairman Edgar Cheng Wai-kin, Asia Financial Group chairman Robin Chan, and Nanyang Commercial Bank honorary chairman Chuang Shih-ping.
Hongkong Bank executive director Vincent Cheng, the highest ranking Chinese in the bank, is one of the committee's many vice-chairmen, effectively out of the decision-making loop.
The formation of the committee is one of the first times Hongkong Bank has been excluded from the top tiers of any event involving the banking industry since it was founded in 1865.
Other respectable bankers and practitioners in the financial sector have been invited to join the committee in other less high-ranking categories.
