Hong Kong SFC Appoints Deputy CEO Julia Leung as CEO for 3 Years Effective 1st January 2023, Succeeds Ashley Alder
15th December 2022 | Hong Kong
Hong Kong Securities & Futures Commission (SFC) has announced the appointment of Deputy CEO Julia Leung as Hong Kong SFC new CEO for 3 years effective 1st January 2023, succeeding current CEO Ashley Alder. Hong Kong SFC Chairman Tim Lui: “Ms Leung is well respected by her peers, colleagues and stakeholders alike for her vision and insights, regulatory knowledge and professionalism, and has proven track records in managing highly-complex regulatory issues and pioneering regulatory initiatives. I am certain Ms Leung’s dedication to the Commission will continue in her new role, and the SFC will benefit from her leadership in advancing its strategic goals and fulfilling the mandate of safeguarding investors, maintaining market integrity and quality as well as strengthening the competitiveness of Hong Kong’s financial markets. On behalf of the board, we look forward to working closely with her in the next three years.” Hong Kong SFC incoming CEO Julia Leung: ““I am delighted and honoured to be the next CEO of the SFC, and I look forward to working closely with colleagues and the board to build on the SFC’s success under the outstanding leadership of Ashley during his 11-year tenure at the SFC. As the SFC enters its third decade, the Commission will redouble its effort to continue delivering as a world-class market regulator. To this end, the SFC will strive to ensure that Hong Kong’s regulatory framework and market infrastructure are fit for purpose so that Hong Kong would thrive as the most important international financial hub with ever-increasing connectivity with markets on the Mainland and the rest of the world.”
“ Hong Kong SFC Appoints Deputy CEO Julia Leung as CEO for 3 Years Effective 1st January 2023, Succeeds Ashley Alder “
Hong Kong SFC New CEO Julia Leung
Ms Leung is a member of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). She is the Deputy Chief Executive Officer and an Executive Director with responsibility for the Intermediaries Division, which comprises the Intermediaries Supervision and Licensing departments. That Division is primarily responsible for administering licensing requirements and conducting ongoing supervision of licensed corporations with a focus on their business conduct and financial soundness. Ms Leung was Executive Director responsible for the Investment Products Division from March 2015 to June 2016.
Prior to joining the SFC, Ms Leung was the Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury from August 2008 to December 2013. Before that, she worked with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) for 14 years, spending the last eight years as the Executive Director responsible for financial cooperation with Mainland and other international regulators. She represented the HKMA at the Bank for International Settlement’s Committee on the Global Financial Systems.
In over 20 years of public service, Ms Leung has extensive experience in financial regulation, market development and international cooperation. She coordinated an initiative among Asian central banks that led to the launch of the Asian Bond Fund, helped introduce the renminbi business in Hong Kong, and facilitated the issuance of yuan-denominated sovereign bonds by the Chinese Ministry of Finance as well as the issuance of other investment products in the offshore renminbi market.
Ms Leung graduated from The Chinese University of Hong Kong and earned a master’s degree from Columbia University in the City of New York. In 2014, she conducted research and authored a book on how Asia surmounted various financial crises.
Ms Leung is a member of the Council of Advisers for Applied Research of the Hong Kong Institute for Monetary and Financial Research. Ms Leung chairs the SFC’s Academic and Accreditation Advisory Committee and the Fintech Advisory Group. She also sits on the Advisory Committee, Investment Committee, Budget Committee, Executive Committee and the SFC (HKEC Listing) Committee.
Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC)
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) is an independent statutory body set up in 1989 to regulate Hong Kong’s securities and futures markets. We derive our investigative, remedial and disciplinary powers from the Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO) and subsidiary legislation. Operationally independent of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, we are funded mainly by transaction levies and licensing fees.
History – The securities and futures markets in Hong Kong were largely unregulated until 1974 when legislation was introduced to regulate the industry following a market crash the previous year. Under the legislation, regulation was conducted on a part-time basis by two separate commissions, one for securities and another for commodities trading. As a financial regulator in an international financial centre, the SFC strives to strengthen and protect the integrity and soundness of Hong Kong’s securities and futures markets for the benefit of investors and the industry.
Another major market crash in 1987 triggered the formation of the Securities Review Committee chaired by chartered accountant Ian Hay Davison. Its report, released in 1988, recommended the establishment of a single statutory body outside the civil service, headed and staffed by full-time professionals and funded primarily by the market. It also proposed that this body be vested with broad investigative and disciplinary powers so it could properly carry out its regulatory functions.
In May 1989, the SFC was officially established as an independent statutory regulator. Further reviews to improve the regulatory regime were conducted after the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The Securities and Futures Ordinance came into effect on 1 April 2003, consolidating and modernising the statutes previously regulating Hong Kong’s securities and futures markets.
The SFC has been funded through fees and transaction levies since the early 1990s. It has not had any requirement for Government funding.
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