Frederick Ma

Frederick Ma Si-hang
馬時亨
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
In office 1 July 2007 – 11 July 2008
Chief Executive	Donald Tsang
Preceded by	Stephen Ip, Joseph Wong
Succeeded by	Rita Lau
Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
In office 1 July 2002 – 30 June 2007
Preceded by	Stephen Ip
Succeeded by	KC Chan
Personal details
Born	22 February 1952 Hong Kong
Alma mater	University of Hong Kong (BA in Economics and History)
Religion	Christianity

Frederick Ma
Traditional Chinese	馬時亨
Simplified Chinese	马时亨
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Mǎ Shíhēng

Frederick Ma Si-hang, GBS, JP (born 22 February 1952 in Hong Kong with family roots in Chaozhou, Guangdong), is the chairman of a China Strategic Group (SEHK: 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 the cousin of entertainer Eric Tsang^[2] and uncle of evangelist Jaeson Ma.^[3]

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.^[4]

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.^[4] At 27, he became Group Head of Chase Manhattan, in charge of institutional banking. After Chase, he became Chief Financial Officer of PCCW.

Government career

Giving up an annual salary of in excess of HK$ 10 million, Ma joined the government as a 'cabinet-level' political appointee under the Principal Officials Accountability System since 1 July 2002^[5] He served as Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury for a term of five years. In 2007, after Donald Tsang re-elected as Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Ma continued in SAR government, served as Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development.

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.^[6] In October, Ma took up an honorary professorship at the School of Economics and Finance at the University of Hong Kong.^[7]

Ma declared himself to be a Christian in 2002, and was affectionately known in Hong Kong as "Fat Ma" because of his portly physique.^[8] During his time out, he took up a regime of exercise and lost 17 pounds, to finally weigh 180 pounds.^[4] In 2009, he was invited to the International Advisory Council of the Chinese sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation.^[9] 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.^[10]

In July 2015, Ma was named the chairman of the MTR Corporation.^[11]

References

1. Risk of appointing ex-government officer as senior management
2. Tsang Kai-wing dies aged 94 after 35 years as corruption fugitive, SCMP, Danny Mok, 19 Jan 2011
3. "Ma nephew helps put Chen straight". The Standard. 30 April 2008.
4. Kwan, Elle (22 June 2009). "Call me `FIT MA'". The Standard.
5. Nickkita Lau, Patsy Moy & BonnieChen (25 June 2008). "Brain scare forces Fred Ma to resign". The Standard. Hong Kong.
6. Frederick Ma resigns
7. Prof Ma to keep some things to himself, The Standard (21 October 2008)
8. Ambrose Leung & Albert Wong (26 June 2008). "'Fat Ma' views golf, travel as a likely remedy". South China Morning Post. Hong Kong. pp. A3.
9. "Gentleman Ma quick off mark". The Standard. 9 July 2009.
10. Ng, Katherine (11 November 2009). "New Ma pursuit `not an issue'". The Standard.
11. http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1834393/frederick-ma-tapped-next-chairman-hong-kongs-mtr-corp