BOPAAO
CONFIDENTIAL
FILE
(25
H&B 020/7
SFROMR Paul
A
Hong Kong Department
DATE: 31 July 1989
Mr Blatherwick
RESPONSIBILITY FOR DEPENDENT TERRITORIES : HONG KONG
1
Your minute of 17 July. I can think of no obvious examples in respect of Hong Kong; and it would in any case be difficult to see how we could have supervised local financial management effectively, given the complexity of the administration of Hong Kong and the high degree of autonomy which the Hong Kong Government enjoys The Finance Committee of LegCo scrutinise the financial affairs of the Hong Kong Government pretty closely too
2. The state of the management of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was the subject of much criticism after the 1987 crash But following the Hay Davison Report the Hong Kong Government have reformed the
system
3 You mention banking I do not think that the banking situation in Hong Kong is in any way comparable with that of any of the Caribbean Dependent Territories. But I would only make the obvious general point that as 1997 approaches there must be some risk of major financial difficulties of one form or another in which the question would arise of whether everything possible had to be done to avert whatever happened Given that Hong Kong is rather sui generis I am not sure what extent you would want to cover this in
your current exercise.
AR Panc
A R Paul