Financial Secretary (Hong Kong)

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Financial Secretary 財政司司長
Emblem of Hong Kong
Incumbent The Hon John Tsang since 1 July 2007
Style	The Honourable
Member of	Government Secretariat Executive Council
Reports to	Legislative Council
Residence	45 Shouson Hill Road
Appointer	Central People's Government nomination by Chief Executive
Term length	No longer than the Chief Executive's remaining term
Inaugural holder	Donald Tsang
Formation	1 July 1997
Website	FSO

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The Financial Secretary (Chinese: 財政司司長) is the title held by the Hong Kong government minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters, equivalent to the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the United Kingdom and Minister of Finance in other nations. The position is among the three most senior Principal Officials of the Government, second only to the Chief Secretary in the order of precedence (but not subordinate to the CS). Together with other secretaries, the Financial Secretary is accountable to the Legislative Council and the territory's Chief Executive (the Governor before the 1997 transfer of sovereignty) for his actions in supervising the formulation and implementation of financial and economic policies.

The position evolved out of the office of the Colonial Treasurer before 1940. The Financial Secretary is a member of the Executive Council, and gives advice to the Chief Executive in that capacity. He is also responsible for delivering the annual budget to the Legislative Council. To date, it is the only office among the three highest Principal Officials of the Government (Chief Secretary, Financial Secretary, and Secretary for Justice/Attorney General) not to have been occupied by a woman.

The incumbent Financial Secretary is John Tsang.

List of Secretaries

Colonial Treasurers between 1842 and 1937

• Robert Montgomery Martin (1844–1845)
• William Thomas Mercer (1845–54)^[1]
• ? Ricnaecker (1854–56)^[1]
• T.H. Forth (1856–62)^[1]
• James Russell (1882)
• Alfred Lister (1882–1883)^[2]
• H.E. Wodehouse (1883–90)^[2]
• ? Mitchell-Innes (1891–93)^[2]
• F.H. May (acting)^[2]
• Norman Gilbert Mitchell-Innes (1890–1895)
• A. M. Thomson (acting) (1895–1897)
• T. Sercombe Smith (1897–1898)
• A. M. Thomson (1899–1918)
• C. McI. Messer (1918–1931)
• E. Taylors (1931–1937)

Source:^[3]

Financial Secretaries between 1937 and 1997

• Sir Sydney Caine KCMG(1937–1940)
• Henry R. Butters (1940–1941)
• Sir Geoffrey Follows (1946–1951)
• Arthur Grenfell Clarke CMG (1952–1961)^[4]
• Sir John James Cowperthwaite KBE CMG (1961–1971)
• Sir Charles Philip Haddon-Cave KBE CMG (1971–1981)
• Sir John Henry Bremridge KBE (1981–1986)
• Sir Piers Jacobs KBE (1986–1991)
• Sir Hamish Macleod KBE (1991–1995)
• Sir Donald Tsang Yam-kuen GBM KBE (Sept 1995- June 1997)

Financial Secretaries after 1997

Politiical party:   Nonpartisan

№	Portrait	Name (Born–Death)	Term of office			Political party	Chief Executive	Term	Ref
			Took office	Left office	Duration
1		Donald Tsang Yam-kuen 曾蔭權 (born 1944)	1 July 1997	30 April 2001	7008120852000000000♠3 years, 303 days	Nonpartisan	Tung Chee-hwa	1
2		Antony Leung Kam-chung 梁錦松 (born 1952)	1 May 2001	16 July 2003	7007696816000000000♠2 years, 76 days	Nonpartisan
								2
3		Henry Tang Ying-yen 唐英年 (born 1952)	17 July 2003	30 June 2007	7008124740000000000♠3 years, 348 days	Nonpartisan
							Donald Tsang	2
4		John Tsang Chun-wah 曾俊華 (born 1951)	1 July 2007	Incumbent	7008297928800000000♠9 years, 161 days	Nonpartisan		3
							Leung Chun-ying	4

Residence

The Financial Secretary's residence is 45 Shouson Hill Road in Deep Water Bay.

See also

• Hong Kong portal

References

1. 1 2 3 Endacott, G. B. (2005) [1962]. A biographical sketch-book of early Hong Kong. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 978-9622097421. 
2. 1 2 3 4 sunzi.lib.hku.hk PDF
3. ↑ Boase, Frederic. 1897. 'Modern English Biography: Containing Many Thousand Concise Memiors of Persons who Have Died Since the Year 1850, with an Index of the Most Interesting Matter'. Published by Netherton and Worth, For the author, 1897 Item notes: v.2 (page 772) Download PDF text
4. ↑ London Gazette, 1 June 1953

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