2019 winner of the Credit Management Excellence Award (CMEA)

Congratulations to the 2019 Credit Management Excellence Award (CMEA) Winner, Mr. Patrick T.C. Lam. The award was presented by Mr. Ricky Chan, FCCMA, CCP - Chairman of Annual Award Committee 2019-2020

The purpose of the CMEA is to recognize the achievements of an individual in the Credit Management industry. The award winner is selected based on five criteria and which is subject to approval by HKCCMA's Executive Committee. The five criteria are:

1. Minimum 10 years or more credit management working experience
2. Solid credit and collection knowledge or distinction in the credit management industry
3. Significant contribution to credit management process in the credit management industry, (e.g. credit scoring model)
4. Enthusiasm in promoting the education of young credit and collection practitioners
5. Pre-eminence in the practice of credit management

Below is the text of the speech as given by Mr. Patrick T.C. Lam, on accepting this prestigious award.

First of all, it is a great honor for me to receive the 2019 Credit Management Excellent Award. I sincerely thank HKCCMA for giving me this highest honor. It is recognition of my work in credit collection and non-performing asset management for more than 30 years. The award also reminds me that I have been around the industry for such a long time.

I have attended the AGM every year since HKCCMA was established in 1999, but I never thought that one day I could receive this award and that I was the first person not to accept this award on the podium due to pandemic. This award is extra precious and meaningful to me.

I started off as a Risk Management Officer in a world-renowned credit service company in Hong Kong in 1987, mainly responsible for handling collection cases for Hong Kong and overseas clients. At that time, I was a fresh graduate and green hand in credit management and I never thought that this job would become my lifelong career. I feel grateful to myself for making that wise decision. Later, I joined Alpha & Leader and started to deal with cases on commercial credit investigation, credit collection, legal support, non-performing asset management. I became a real industrial practitioner from a debt collector. Here, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Bobby, the Chairman of HKCCMA and my business partner. Special thanks go to Bobby for giving me so many opportunities.

Having been around our industry for years, I have never seen economic situation as grim as that in 2020. Over the year, many businesses in Hong Kong have been hit hard by the COVID-19 in terms of operation, cost control, debt collection or cash flow management. This pandemic is even more serious than the 1997 financial crisis or the 2002 SARS and lasts longer. The economy needs about one to two years to recover. In this climate, cash flow management and risk prevention are the top priorities for the survival and sustainable