Frederick Ma

Frederick Ma Si-hang (born 22 February 1952 in Hong Kong with family roots in Chaozhou, Guangdong), is the chairman of a China Strategic Group (HKEX: 235).^[1] As a former Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, he was a popular figure with the public and with legislators of all parties. He is also the cousin of entertainer Eric Tsang.

Biography

Ma was born the eldest of four children, and his father died when Ma was in his teens. He attended New Method College in Tai Hang, where his academic results were "less than fantastic". However, whilst there, he won an inter-school project for Hong Kong tourism.^[2]

He graduated in 1973, dreaming of working for Cathay Pacific. As he was due to attend a second interview with the airline, Chase Manhattan made an offer with a promised starting salary of HK$1,600. He accepted the job with the bank, and was relocated to New York three years later.^[2] At 27, he became Group Head of Chase Manhattan, in charge of institutional banking. After Chase, he became Chief Financial Officer of PCCW. Giving up an annual salary of in excess of HK$ 10 million, Ma joined the government^[3] as a 'cabinet-level' political appointee under the Principal Officials Accountability System.

Government career

Ma entered the government in July 2002 as Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, and was appointed to Secretary for Commerce in July 2007; he was a member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong.^[4] In the early weeks of his government tenure, Ma he weathered the resignation calls for the "penny stocks fiasco" in July 2002, but has since earned recognition as one of the more astute and popular politicians, according to opinion polls. Ma has been praised by the pan-democratic 'opposition' parties for his even-handedness with all political parties.^[5] Ma's approval/disapproval rating stood at 55 percent/9 percent as at early July 2008.^[6]

As Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, one of Ma's jobs was to sell the Tsang administration's Goods and Services Tax proposals,^[7] which were abandoned for lack of support in December 2006.

Post-resignation

On 24 June 2008, Ma resigned from the government for health reasons. He was diagnosed with "cavernous hemangioma" and "venous angioma" (blood vessel tumours) in the brain.^[8] In October, Ma took up an honorary professorship at the School of Economics and Finance at the University of Hong Kong.^[9]

Ma declared himself to be a Christian, and was affectionately known in Hong Kong as "Fat Ma" because of his portly physique.^[10] During his time out, he took up a regime of exercise and lost 17 pounds, to finally weigh 180 pounds.^[2] In 2009, he was invited to the International Advisory Council of the Chinese sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation.^[11] It was announced in early November that Ma had been named the new non-executive chairman of China Strategic Holdings; Raymond Or was named the company's vice-chairman and CEO. The company's shares, which were suspended pending the announcement, closed 78 percent higher when they were relisted.^[12]

References