Trusting an accountant with Hong Kong’s finances speaks volumes of Beijing’s priorities

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To China, any attack on Hong Kong’s financial market must be stopped with swift actions. A knowledgeable person as Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary is much less convenient than having an obedient one in a moment of crisis.

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A display board shows the falling Hang Seng Index during morning trading on the first day of trading after Lunar New Year holidays at the Hong Kong Stocks Exchange in Hong Kong, China February 11, 2016. Photo: REUTERS

Shirley Yam

Published: 8:44pm, 6 Jun 2017Updated: 4:14pm, 26 Jan 2018

There is little doubt that Paul Chan Mo-Po will stay on as Hong Kong's Financial Secretary for the next five years. The question is why.

The accountant didn’t make it in 2012, and John Tsang Chun-wah eventually got the job.

Instead, Chan became the Secretary for Development, responsible for Hong Kong’s land and housing. He made little progress while busy fending off scandals of his wife running numerous subdivided flats and undisclosed land ownership in a development zone in the New Territories.

This is not a resume that many in the financial sector will cheer for, given our market’s complexity, sophistication and urgent need for reform.

How did Chan get the job this time? There are four theories, which speak of a bitter power play and more importantly, Beijing’s role in Hong Kong.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po during a radio phone-in programme after his presentation of Hong Kong’s 2017 fiscal budget at RTHK in Kowloon Tong. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

The outgoing chief executive’s active campaigning for Chan is one of the most widely circulated explanations. Leung Chun-ying was forced into retirement for family reasons, after a Beijing delegation found him unable to get sufficient nominations for another term, the theory goes.