Hong Kong Names Eddie Yue as Next Monetary Authority Chief
Yue will take charge of the city’s $512 billion exchange fund and oversight of the peg to the dollar.
(Bloomberg) -- Eddie Yue will be the next chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, succeeding Norman Chan, the city’s government said on Thursday.
Yue, a deputy at the central bank who oversees reserves management, will take over on Oct. 1 from the retiring Chan. He will be in charge of the city’s HK$4 trillion ($512 billion) exchange fund and oversight of the peg to the dollar.
“Eddie is conversant with the financial markets overseas and in the mainland,” Financial Secretary Paul Chan said in a statement. “He has name recognition and credibility in financial arenas, and the vision for the future of Hong Kong as an international financial center.”
The main task for 54-year-old Yue will be defense of the Hong Kong dollar’s peg to the greenback, which has underpinned stability in the city since 1983. The importance of the peg is being highlighted now as protests against a proposed extradition bill intensify in the most serious political crisis since the return to Chinese rule.
“A steady change in management is more important than bringing new things for the HKMA at this time during the trade war,” said Iris Pang, an economist at ING bank NV in Hong Kong. “Eddie Yue is that steady change in management.”
The new HKMA chief is set to be among the world’s best-paid central bankers, despite having little role in setting interest rates. His annual fixed salary will be HK$7 million ($900,000), with as much as HK$2.3 million a year in performance-linked variable pay, according to Thursday’s statement.
Formal tasks include formulating banking policies and managing the city’s reserve fund. Yet it’s the currency peg that is the highest priority, with chief executives representing the city’s iron commitment to maintaining the level. The authorities have intervened over the years to defend it.
Yue, the most experienced deputy to Chan, started his career in civil service in 1986 after graduating from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He joined the HKMA as a senior manager in 1993, the year it was established. He became a deputy chief executive in 2007, helping Chan steer Hong Kong through the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
An advocate of the exchange fund’s long-term growth portfolio, investing into alternative assets such as private equity and real estate, Yue has helped the fund deliver an annualized internal rate of return of 12.9% since 2009.
--With assistance from Dominic Lau.
To contact the reporters on this story: Alfred Liu in Hong Kong at aliu226@bloomberg.net;Kari Lindberg in Hong Kong at klindberg13@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeffrey Black at jblack25@bloomberg.net;Sam Mamudi at smamudi@bloomberg.net
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