Joseph Yam: Developing and positioning Hong Kong’s bond market Speech by Mr Joseph Yam, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, at the Forum on China’s Government Securities Market in the New Century, Hong Kong, 19 November 2001. *  *  *  Introduction It is a great pleasure for me to be here today to share with you Hong Kong’s experience in the development of the bond market and our views on the future prospects of that market. Before I go into the subject, however, I would like to congratulate our friends from the Mainland on their superb efforts leading to China’s accession to the World Trade Organisation. The signing of the necessary documents a week or so ago marks the successful conclusion of 15 years of sheer hard work and determination, and the beginning of a new era in which the Mainland embraces globalisation in earnest, to the long-term benefit of China, the region and the world. I have no doubt that Hong Kong, in particular, will benefit tremendously from this. The international business community has been positioning itself, here in Hong Kong a free and open economy at the doorstep of the Mainland and an integral part of China to take advantage of the many opportunities that will open up in the years to come. As the international financial centre of China, Hong Kong is particularly looking forward to the opportunities arising from a much quicker pace of financial liberalisation in the Mainland after accession to WTO.
However, supplementary training may need to be constantly kept up to date, in order that the Management Accountant has a meaningful impact on the organization. This would be made even more difficult because issues, problems and responses are no longer of a local nature. In most cases, responses need to be regional or even international. If we act together we can pool our resources, learn from our experiences and be ready for the unknown. That is what we need to be doing. In that sense, the Management Accountants of the world, seem to be on the right track. We say, we wish to be seen as Strategists and as Performance Management Specialists. If so, what should we do? (a)  As far as education and training is concerned, in addition to all what we learn now, a greater focus in communication and human resource management may be necessary. These new skills would be the tools to; (i) manage better, (ii) perform better, and (iii) deliver outputs better. (b)  Develop skills in marketing and understand the importance and the specialist nature of the subject. (c)  Develop the proper managerial attitude which focuses on outputs rather than inputs. If a person is to focus on “outputs” a few important steps would need to enter his work and life. These are very well enunciated in the 2500 year old teachings of Lord Buddha. Usually, we seek the guidance of this Great Teacher in spiritual matters.