FSDC is a think-tank

Financial Services Development Council (FSDC) Chairperson Laura Cha Shih May-lung clarified on Tuesday that the FSDC will serve as an advisory body. Hong Kong's financial services development is at a critical stage. The FSDC will act as a consulting body on financial industry development, giving significant help to the government by providing professional opinions on the macro-development of the financial industry.

With the support of the business community and members of the public, the FSDC will serve as a conveyer of collective wisdom on the financial policy-making process, as Hong Kong strives to seize opportunities arising from the mainland's development and further to secure status as an international financial center.

The outline of the nation's 12th Five-Year Plan commits to supporting Hong Kong's efforts to become an offshore yuan trading and international asset management center. With the support of the country in the face of a changing landscape in international finance, Hong Kong needs professional opinions more than ever, to ensure its financial services develop along the right track.

The FSDC is a non-statutory advisory body under the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) and a high-level cross-industry platform responsible for supplying ideas to the government on policies aimed at enhancing Hong Kong's role as an international financial center. Its mission includes research in long-term macro-development of the financial services industry, facilitating the development of financial markets and services, and maintaining close ties with all businesses in the field.

Some people are concerned that the FSDC may accept private donations that will land it in conflicts of interest. The truth is, the advisory body has no administrative function or power, it is not a policy bureau or regulator and it does not accept private donations, at least not at this moment. It is a "public institution" subject to provisions of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance. It operates as a company, limited by guarantee and therefore is in no conflict with its advisory status. Business communities and members of the public should view the FSDC objectively.

This is an excerpted translation of a Wen Wei Po editorial published on Jan 23.

Kwan Chiu

Help the needy promptly

Apart from land and housing supply issues, addressing needs of the elderly, ameliorating poverty and helping the underprivileged are also major issues emphasized in Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's maiden Policy Address (PA). These issues belong to different categories, but amelioration of poverty is the basis for tackling these problems.

Indeed, these social issues affecting standard of living improvements should not be ignored. But the public will have a clear perspective on how local land and housing supply issues will be addressed. There appears to be a fluctuation of property prices in the local housing market and a surge in prices of second-hand houses. In view of the fact that there is no shortage of senior citizens living in poverty and experiencing a lack of care, the government launched the Old Age Living Allowance and the Pilot Scheme on Community Care Service Voucher for the Elderly. These initiatives were undertaken even before Leung delivered his PA.

The voucher scheme enables senior citizens who are reluctant to live in elder care homes or who are unable to afford to do so, to hire domestic helpers to take care of their daily needs. Clearly, the government has come up with some innovative, well thought-out measures, but how these measures can be implemented as soon as possible remains a key question here.

A policy in the making requires much time and effort from conducting public consultation to building consensus among policymakers to meeting popular expectations. But the proposed measures to tackle these social problems seem to hang in doubt at the moment and, until concrete progress is evident, disappointment will likely remain the dominant climate in the public perception.

For example, the government has been asked to confirm whether the HK$2,200 monthly living allowance will be available to elderly residents who have moved to their hometowns in Guangdong, after Secretary for Labour and Welfare Cheng Kin-chung mentioned the idea, but insisted more "research" is needed. Given the fact the existing "fruit money" is already available to elderly residents living in Guangdong, what's the point of taking the updated scheme again?

The author is a veteran current affairs commentator. This is an excerpted translation of her column published in Ta Kung Pao on Jan 23.

(HK Edition 01/24/2013 page3)