FSDC holds Career Day - Government World Magazine

The following is issued on behalf of the Financial Services Development Council:

The Financial Services Development Council (FSDC) held its fifth Career Day at the Grand Auditorium of HKEX Connect Hall this afternoon (October 20). It offered a good opportunity for tertiary students and fresh graduates to learn more about the wide variety of jobs and career prospects in Hong Kong's financial services industry.

The Chairman of the FSDC, Mr Laurence Li, said in his opening remarks, "The FSDC highly regards the importance of talent development in sustaining Hong Kong as an international leading financial centre, and has been continuously pursuing various events and initiatives in human capital development in the past years. To stay abreast of the changing market, the FSDC has continued to upgrade its human capital initiatives. This year, the CV Clinic has been launched with the aim of helping students obtain tailored advice on their curriculum vitae (CV) writing, presentation and interview skills to enable them to perform better in the job hunting process."

     This year, the career day featured a keynote address by the Chairman of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, Mrs Laura Cha, who spoke on her inspiring story and career path as well as key lessons to learn.

     The Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan said in his closing remarks that financial services is a high value-added profession which is crucial to the sustained prosperity of Hong Kong's economy. He also said that with the deepening economic ties with the Mainland and the development and application of FinTech in Hong Kong, there will be more opportunities for the financial services sector, thereby creating a promising future for the young generation.

     The career day was attended by over 350 participants. The CV Clinic saw human resources professionals from banking, asset management and accounting industries offer one-on-one advisory services on-site to students on job search topics such as drafting of CVs and interview techniques.

     The event also featured two panel discussions. In the first panel discussion entitled "Career in Finance", speakers provided participants with insights on banking, asset management and insurance, and offered practical tips for job searching and preparations for a career in finance. In the second panel discussion, "Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Finance", speakers shared their experiences in applying innovation and technology in financial services and starting a business in financial technologies.

     Speakers included the Partner of Hillhouse Capital Management Limited, Mr Mervyn Chow; the Group General Manager HSBC and Chief Executive, Hong Kong of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, Ms Diana Cesar; the Chief Executive Officer of Value Partners Group Limited, Dr Au King-lun; the Chief Executive Officer of Asia Insurance Company Limited, Ms Winnie Wong; the Deputy Executive Director and Head of Public Policy Institution of Our Hong Kong Foundation, Mr Stephen Wong; Senior Partner of Hong Kong and Vice Chairman of KPMG, China, Mr Andrew Weir; Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of OneDegree, Mr Alvin Kwock; and the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Beyond Ventures, Mr Lap Man.

Institutions that participated in the CV Clinic included Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young, Euroclear Bank Hong Kong Branch, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited, the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, and Value Partners Group Limited.

About the FSDC

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government established the FSDC in 2013 as a high-level, cross-sectoral advisory body to engage the industry in formulating proposals to promote the further development of Hong Kong's financial services industry and to map out the strategic direction for development.

The FSDC set up five committees, namely the Policy Research Committee, the Mainland Opportunities Committee, the New Business Committee, the Market Development Committee and the Human Capital Committee, as the five streams of its work.