The Hon Joseph YAM Chi-Kwong,

The Hon Joseph Yam Chi-Kwong is a Non-Official Member of the Executive Council of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; He is also Distinguished Research Fellow of the Lau Chor Tak Institute of Global Economics and Finance at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.   He sits on the boards of Union Pay International and Johnson Electric Holdings Limited as Independent Non-Executive Director, and on the advisory committees of a number of prominent financial and academic institutions.  Mr Yam was formerly Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, an organization that he was instrumental in establishing in 1993.  He retired from that position in September 2009.

Mr Yam had a distinguished public service career in Hong Kong, much of it in a responsible position dealing with monetary and financial affairs. He helped put together Hong Kong’s Linked Exchange Rate system in 1983, proactively defending and strengthening it through the sensitive period before the reversion of sovereignty in 1997, and subsequently through the Asian financial crisis of 1997 to 1998 and the global financial crisis of 2008. He master-minded the stock market intervention in August 1998 that prevented a meltdown of the monetary and financial systems of Hong Kong. He introduced many strategic reform measures that helped to ensure financial stability in Hong Kong and develop Hong Kong as an international financial centre. Working closely with the People’s Bank of China, Mr Yam also promoted the establishment of the offshore Renminbi market in Hong Kong, a strategic move for the internationalisation of the Renminbi.

In recognition of his contributions to Hong Kong, Mr Yam was awarded the highest honour of the Grand Bauhinia Medal by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 2009. Over the years, Mr Yam has also been conferred many honorary awards by the private sector, including the international media, and several honorary doctorate degrees and professorships from local and overseas universities.