Hong Kong looks to hire an executive director to lead a team for FSDC’s expanded advisory role in city’s financial services

Hong Kong’s Financial Services Development Council, the brain child of the city’s previous chief executive, is looking to hire an executive director to lead a team from a rented office in Central as it expands its advisory role, according to two people familiar with the situation.

The FSDC, funded by an annual budget of HK$32 million (US$4 million), will rent an office in Central in April, and hire about a dozen staff to assume its role, the people said, declining to be named for speaking about a policy matter that has not been announced.

Remuneration for the leadership position is estimated at between HK$2 million and HK$3 million a year, according to human resources consultants. That is less than the HK$6 million brought home by the Tourism Board’s executive director Anthony Lau Chun-hon, based on public information.

“The FSDC head needs to be an administrator who is experienced in the financial sector, so it needs a reasonable salary level to hire the right talent,” said Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, a local lawmaker and chairwoman of New People’s Party. “The agency will now have the resources and manpower to let it expand its influence, in addition to its research and promotional roles.”

Established in 2013 by former chief executive Leung Chun-ying, the FSDC acted as an adviser alongside financial regulators including the de facto central bank, the securities watchdog, the stock market operator and the insurance authority. It did not have any enforcement or prosecution powers, and did not even have a budget, or staff.

Headed by former deputy regulator Laura Cha Shih May-lung until her appointment last April as chairman of the local stock exchange, the FSDC was mainly involved in publishing policy papers.