Press Release
LCQ11: Local and non-local staff of the SFC
Wednesday, January 22, 2003
Following is a question by the Hon Henry Wu and a written reply by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Frederick Ma, in the Legislative Council today (January 22):
Question:
Regarding the local and non-local staff of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
(a) the current number of non-local staff of SFC, together with a breakdown by their ranks and pay bands;
(b) how the work experience and qualifications of the local staff of SFC compare to those of their non-local colleagues of the same ranks; and
(c) if SFC plans to implement any staff localization policy; if so, of the implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
In response to the Honourable Member's question, we have sought relevant information from the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), as follows -
(a) Non-local staff refers to any person other than those having the right of abode or right to land in Hong Kong, who must obtain a visa before coming to Hong Kong for the purpose of taking up employment. As at 31 December 2002, out of 402 SFC staff, 18 (4.5%) are non-local staff. The non-local staff in the SFC are from various grades ranging from Executive Trainee to Senior Director.
The rank distribution of these 18 non-local staff is as follows:
Grade Staff Number
------
Senior Director/Chief Counsel 1
Director/Deputy Chief Counsel 3
Associate Director/Senior Counsel 3
Senior Manager/Counsel 5
Manager 4
Assistant Manager 1
Executive Trainee 1
The SFC does not consider it appropriate to disclose the remuneration of specific staff. However, the SFC emphasised that in determining the remuneration, the SFC largely draws reference from the prevailing market rates and the availability of people with the required experience and skill set. The overall remuneration objective of the SFC is to ensure that the SFC's remuneration is in line with the market rate to attract and retain high quality employees. Whether the staff is local or not is not a factor in determining the remuneration.
(b) All staff holding the same position must possess the qualifications, experience and skill set required for that position. The qualifications and experience of non-local staff and local staff in the same rank is generally comparable.
(c) The SFC does not plan to implement any staff localisation policy. The SFC's recruitment policy is to recruit the most suitable candidates based on their qualifications, experience and skill set. However, when all the factors of consideration are equal, preference will be given to local candidates.
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