Financial Secretary (Hong Kong)

Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region
Financial Secretary
財政司司長
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

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

Name	Took office	Left office
Edward Elmslie	1842	1843
Charles Edward Stewart	1843	1844
Robert Montgomery Martin	1844	1847
William Thomas Mercer	1847	1854
Robert Rienaecker	1854	1857
Frederick Henry Alexander Forth	1857	1871
Sir Cecil Clementi Smith PC GCMG	1871	1879
Sir James Russell CMG	1879	1883
Alfred Lister	1883	1890
Norman Gilbert Mitchell-Innes	1891	1896
Thomas Sercombe Smith	1896	1898
Alexander MacDonald Thomson	1898	1918
Charles McIlvaine Messer OBE	1918	1931
Edwin Taylor CMG	1931	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
№	Portrait	Name (Born–Death)	Took office	Left office	Duration	Political party	Chief Executive	Term	Ref
style="background:Template:Nonpartisan/meta/color" \|1		Donald Tsang Yam-kuen 曾蔭權 (born 1944)	1 July 1997	30 April 2001	3 years, 303 days	Nonpartisan	Tung Chee-hwa	1
rowspan=2 style="background:Template:Nonpartisan/meta/color" \|2		Antony Leung Kam-chung 梁錦松 (born 1952)	1 May 2001	16 July 2003	2 years, 76 days	Nonpartisan		1
2		Antony Leung Kam-chung 梁錦松 (born 1952)	1 May 2001	16 July 2003	2 years, 76 days	Nonpartisan
2	rowspan=2 style="background:Template:Nonpartisan/meta/color" \|3		Henry Tang Ying-yen 唐英年 (born 1952)	17 July 2003	30 June 2007	3 years, 348 days		Nonpartisan
Donald Tsang	2		Henry Tang Ying-yen 唐英年 (born 1952)	17 July 2003	30 June 2007	3 years, 348 days		Nonpartisan
Donald Tsang	rowspan=2 style="background:Template:Nonpartisan/meta/color" \|4		John Tsang Chun-wah 曾俊華 (born 1951)	1 July 2007	Incumbent	17 years, 128 days	Nonpartisan	3
Leung Chun-ying	4		John Tsang Chun-wah 曾俊華 (born 1951)	1 July 2007	Incumbent	17 years, 128 days	Nonpartisan

Residence

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

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Endacott, G. B. (2005) [1962]. A biographical sketch-book of early Hong Kong. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 978-9622097421. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d sunzi.lib.hku.hk PDF
^ 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)[1] Download PDF text
^ London Gazette, 1 June 1953

[Endacott-1] Endacott, G. B. (2005) [1962]. A biographical sketch-book of early Hong Kong. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 978-9622097421. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

[sunzi-2] 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)[1] Download PDF text

[4] London Gazette, 1 June 1953

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v t e Principal officials of Hong Kong
Secretaries of Departments	Chief Secretary for Administration Financial Secretary Secretary for Justice
Deputy Secretaries of Departments	Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration Deputy Financial Secretary Deputy Secretary for Justice
Directors of Bureaux	Civil Service Commerce and Economic Development Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Culture, Sports and Tourism Development Education Environment and Ecology Financial Services and the Treasury Health Home and Youth Affairs Housing Innovation, Technology and Industry Labour and Welfare Security Transport and Logistics
Others	Audit Police ICAC Customs and Excise Immigration

v t e Office of the Chief Executive
Director of the Chief Executive's Office: Carol Yip
Secretary for Justice Chief Secretary for Administration Financial Secretary
Public Service Commission Office of the Ombudsman Independent Commission Against Corruption Audit Commission Chief Executive's Policy Unit

v t e Financial Secretary of Hong Kong
Financial Secretary: Paul Chan
Subordinate departments	Office of the Government Economist Hong Kong Monetary Authority
Previous office holders *	Martin Mercer Ricnaecker Forth C. C. Smith Russell Lister Mitchell-Innes T. S. Smith Thomson Messer Taylor Caine Butters Follows Clarke Cowperthwaite Haddon-Cave Bremridge Jacobs Macleod D. Tsang Leung Tang J. Tsang Chan
* Includes previous Colonial Treasurers