New | Octopus CEO stands ready to deal with any crisis
Sunny Cheung Yiu-tong came out of retirement in January to take up his old job as CEO of Octopus, and stands ready to deal with any new crisis
It may only need a gentle swipe, but don't be fooled by the simplicity of Octopus card's application. With 99 per cent of Hong Kong's 7 million people using it, someone somewhere has to make sure it all goes well. Meet Sunny Cheung Yiu-tong.
There's a lot resting on the 61-year-old Octopus Holdings chief executive's shoulders. He leads a company whose smartcards are swiped 13 million times every day.
Launched in September 1997, Octopus is co-owned by five transportation companies - MTR, KCRC, the two bus companies and a ferry operator.
It allows cardholders to make cashless transactions on a range of services, from paying bus or train fares and parking lot fees to buying cinema tickets and shopping.
Born in Hong Kong in 1954 as the second of the three sons to a ferry captain, Cheung joined Far East Bank in 1973 as a teller at 18.
"It was pretty scary as some customers might give you a pile of HK$500 notes. Losing even one note could almost cost me my month's salary, which used to be a princely HK$600 those days," he said.