Chairman Statement

Hong Kong starts seeing the glimpse of light after walking through a long and dark tunnel for some over six years since 1997. As it stepped into 2004, we saw property prices start picking up which resulted a drop of property deficit owners' to fewer than 60,000 in March 2004. In the first two months 2004, bankruptcy petitions and bankruptcy orders decreased to 2,211 and 3,170 cases respectively which represented a 42.9% and 45.6% drop as compared to same periods last year. Most bankers and economists feel optimistic about the coming trend and believe both figures on deficit owners and bankruptcy petitioners will continue to decrease.

The implementation of Positive Credit Data in 2003 has also seen bankers launching new plans for personal loans and credit card in offering yearly interest rate as low as 8.3%, representing a dramatic cut, as compared to the general yearly rate over 26%.

The economy is further benefited from the Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and Solo Travel Scheme for Mainland Chinese citizens. Industries like retail, catering and financial services have already been benefiting since late 2003.

The years 1997 to 2003 have gone which were no doubt two of the hardest times for most of the Hong Kong people, whether they were on their own businesses, or simply employed individuals. Credit and collection practitioners were no way excluded from this difficult period as credit managers found hard to maintain in a healthy DSO (day-sales-outstanding) or easy to negotiate or collect a debt in such a recession climate. The economy had been so stagnant that we have been seeing businesses closing down and individuals lining up for declaration of bankruptcies.

The year 2004 will probably be a year of restart to Hong Kong people, so as the Association since the Executive Council will have three new councilors joining the team. Their experience and expertise undoubtedly help the growth of our Association, especially in the membership benefits and education spectrum.

Over the past three years that I have served HKCCMA as the Chair, it has been my goal to build membership. But just building it for the sheer purpose of number increasing was not the mere goal. The goal was to increase membership and to increase value of the Association. As we are heading for our 4 th year anniversary, I would like to repeat my urge to every member to volunteer your time and talent to serve the Association. All the committees (Annual Award, Certification, Survey, Membership, Education and Who's Who) need your support and voluntary involvement, which in turn bring benefits back to members.

In most associations it is often commented that things are not being achieved quick enough, but most forget that there is a limited human resource and the balance is by way of voluntary efforts. The Association is not only in need of members that are writing the check to support, but also volunteer to serve. It is not difficult to realize the considerable time and efforts of our Executive Councilors, Committee Members and Staff that have been spent from looking at the following achievements and works in the past year.

Review and Achievements

Executive Council

The nine-person Executive Council continued to excel and lead the Association to the right direction and growth. They motioned, discussed, debated, voted, passed and most importantly put up their time and spirit to make things happened in the Association. They provided diverse views and comments from different angles for the good sake of the industry. While I will miss the three existing councilors Mr. Francis Lo, Mr. Eagle Cheung and Mr. Johnson Chong who are retiring from the Executive Council after the upcoming AGM, I am happy to welcome three fine gentlemen coming on board. The joining of Mr. Richard Burton, Mr. Patrick Cheung and Mr. Clive Mok will mean a new era to the Executive Council and the Association. The 2004 Executive Council now composes of three councilors from the credit provider sector, three from the credit insurance industry and three from the credit and collection agency industry.

With the new set up of the Executive Council, we are confident on the continuous growth of our membership and member's benefits.

Members Recruitment

The Association currently has 116 members and their representatives, which represents a sustainable growth as compared to same period last year. As usual, our membership base covers every commercial and business corners including banking and finance, telecommunication, law practice, shipping and transportation, manufacturing, trading, debt collection agencies, credit reporting agencies and all the major credit insurance companies.

The hit rate of our Association's website has been increasing with currently more than 3,500 times a month from members and non-members. Since our inception in December 1999, the Association has carried out 11 Surveys (Live Polls); listed more than 40 industry news; input of 22 articles and hundreds of opinions in the Credit & Collection Forum (Discussion Group) at our website.

The response to the Job Classified section was also promising, which has received increasing listings from both job seekers' and potential employers.

The Discussion Group, Credit Quiz and Live Poll were again the hottest sections where members and non-members have either tendered and exchanged their opinions on topics or tested their credit & collection knowledge.

Last year, our web site received over 40 enquiries from individuals, companies and overseas Associations. The links to worldwide Associations and news have also provided an easy-to-access tool to our members and the general public, in the international credit and collection arena.

Who's Who, Credit & Collection Practitioners in Hong Kong and Guangdong 2003-4

The "Who's Who” is one of the projects undertaken by HKCCMA in 2003 in its efforts to promote the communication amongst industry practitioners. This is the second edition following a great success of the inaugural edition in 2002. The Association will officially release the Year 2003-4 edition by 1st quarter of 2004.

Complimentary copies will be available in the AGM and for all successful applicants for listing, advertisers, members, patrons and consultants of the Association; and subscribed copies will be sent to the public, professional/consultancy firms, personnel/recruitment agencies, libraries and financial institutions etc.

Certification Program

The Association has been in the past years developing a certification program for the local credit and collection practitioners. Although we are seeing some delay in our co-operation with ACA International in establishing this new program, I hereby announce that we are approaching the closing stage.

The Association is expecting to receive full materials and related requirements ready for our members in 2004. More information on the program will be released at our Association's website www.hkccma.com in the next quarter.

Seminars and Educations

The Association held its first free seminar for members and members' guests on 11 th March 2004. We received an overwhelming response with more than 35 members and guests attending this seminar. We were delighted to be able to invite two prominent leaders in our industry to speak on two topics on credit and collection. “Mastering Credit Investigation” by Mr. Stephen Lo and “Make Use of Legal Knowledge in Debt Collection” by Mr. Bobby Rozario. The returned questionnaires reflected 90% overall satisfaction on the arrangement and content. The Executive Council has approved the launch of two seminars every year and members will be notified of the coming schedule in the coming months.

Mix At Six

The Association's most popular event "Mix at Six" received overwhelming response since its commencement. In the past year, the Association has held four mix-at -six functions in different venue. The Association shall continue organize this event in the coming year and we look forward to seeing members and their guests attending the events.

China Development

In the past year, the Association has been in contact with the “Credit Manager Club” (CMC) of Guangdong in China. The CMC comprises of credit managers in the Guangdong area with members from commercial sector such P & G, Pepsico, Lam Soon, Shell, Warner, Mead Johnson and China Pertroleum. They meet once or twice every quarter and normally have over 20 participants in the gatherings, which they called "Saloon”.

The Association is optimistic about the coming development with CMC and will make its best endeavor to support their meetings, to deliver our mission and introduction, as well as exchanging ideas and views of the industry development in Hong Kong and China.

We did not see much news or progress on " The regulation of debt collection practices” since the final report released by The Law Reform Commission (LRC) in Hong Kong on 9 th July 2002. The Association will keep monitoring its development and continue lobbying and elaboration on what professional debt collection is all about to appropriate parties.

HKCCMA still maintains its view and support the licensing of debt collection agencies and professional debt collector but has some concerns on the other recommendations. As mentioned last year, the LRC's recommendations (other than the controversial portions) will mean a mechanism in driving every industry practitioner to the highest professional standard where only those qualified and dedicated will survive, which will be beneficial to the industry in the long run.

Recognition

The Award is to recognize the winner's works relatively with credit & collection in the aspects of education, training, management, operation and customer service in year 2003. The Award Presentation Ceremony will be held in the upcoming Annual General Meeting on 5 th May 2004. This is a yearly award and its nomination procedures and criteria for coming year 2004 will be available at the Association's website at a later stage.

Our five-person Judge Panel is composed of Mr. Richard Burton, Regional Managing Director of Coface; Mr. William Lee, Professor of the Department of Accountancy of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University; Mr. Daniel Lau, General Manager of Gerling-Konzern Allgemeine Versicherungs AG – Hong Kong Branch; Mr. Henning Siess, Chief Executive Officer of Euler Hermes Credit Underwriters Hong Kong Limited and Mr. Benedict Wong, FCCMA, MCE, Chairman of HKCCMA.

On behalf of Association, I congratulate the Award Winner. I would like to express our gratitude to all the members of the Judge Panel, especially to Mr. Richard Burton, Professor William Lee, Mr. Daniel Lau and Mr. Henning Siess. Their support in serving in the panel is vital to the launching and future development of this award program.

I would also like to specially thank Coface Hong Kong and Mr. Richard Burton, Regional Managing Director of Coface for their generous sponsorship, which makes the award program more successful this year.

In the last two years, we have seen a lot of good changes in the Association. These developments would not have occurred if it had not been for the commitment of the Executive Councilors, Committee Members and Staffs. I would like to thank those of you who have offered your support, encouragement, and input to the Executive Council and me throughout this process. Your wisdom and experience has been extremely valuable and has made my job easier. I have not handled this milestone alone. It is often difficult to accept and adapt to change but we will continuously and constantly look for ways to benefit our members. As we move forward, we will continue to assess the direction and needs of our Association.

It is my honour to have served the Association, especially working with an excellent team which includes Miss Betty Huen, Director of Communication; Mr. Matthew Ellerton, Director of Membership; Miss Grace Wong, Director of Education; Mr. Germany Heng, Chairman of Membership; Mr. Stephen Lo, Chairman of Education; Mr. Eagle Cheung, Chairman of Survey Committee and Mr. Bobby Rozario, Chairman of the Award Committee.

I have also been lucky to work with our dedicated Executive Councilors Mr. A ndrew Kwok, Mr. Bobby Rozario, Mr. Eagle Cheung, Mr. Francis Lo, Mr. Germany Heng, Mr. Johnson Chong, Mr. Matthew Ellerton and Mr. Stephen Lo. I thank each of them for their support to the Association and myself. As an Association with limited resources, we are fortunate to have these individuals who are willing to give their time, talent and efforts. They mean more than councilors to me, they are my good friends. I would like to express my thanks again to Mr. Francis Lo, Mr. Eagle Cheung and Mr. Johnson Chong who are retiring from our Executive Council. Their contribution and dedication were undoubtedly indispensable to the Association's growth.

Many thanks to the Association's Advisors: ACA International; Mr. James Kun Sun To, Legislative Councilor; Mr. Gary Rippentrop, Chief Executive Officer of ACA International; Mr. Neil Wood, Past Chairman of the International Unit of ACA International; Mr. Cody Leung, solicitor of Holman Fenwick and Willan, Mr. Victor Chan, Partner of Tang, Wong, Cheung & Co and Mr. K. K. Chung, CPA and owner of K.K. Chung & Co.

Finally, I wish you all the best in health, career and business. Hong Kong has started seeing the sign of growth with the economy turning up and the community going away from the history of SARS. On behalf of the Association, I wish everyone in Hong Kong good health, happiness, and of course, moving forward in their wishes, businesses and career paths.

Way Forward

Development Plan

The Association is heading into its fifth year of establishment. The election result of the new Executive Council will be officially announced in the Annual General Meeting to be held on 5 th May 2004 at the Park Lane Hotel.

In line with the Association's Mission “To preserve a healthy credit environment in our society “, the new EC team will continue expanding the membership base and member's benefits, launching the certification and educational programs and lobbying the government on licensing issues affecting to our industry. The development plans for year 2004-2005 include:

Finalize and launching of the Hong Kong credit and collection practitioner Certification Program in Hong Kong	Improve the Association ability in providing educational courses, seminar, workshop for members
Produce at least 2 survey reports on credit and collection related topics published under the name of the Association	Continue the study on the development of Scholarship Program and seeking support and sponsorship from international Associations or corporations
Review the criteria and prepare open nomination for the Credit Practitioner of the Year 2004	Continue to establish domestic and international recognition and affiliation with industry Associations and professional bodies
Seek further channels or events for members and non-members to mix and mingle	Continue the study on the development of credit management education courses – meeting universities on the possibility of developing courses on credit management and co-operate with local and overseas Associations