Joseph Yam
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The Honourable Joseph Yam GBM, GBS, CBE, JP |
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| 1st Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority | |
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In office April 1993 – 1 October 2009 |
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| Governor | Chris Patten |
| Succeeded by | Norman Chan |
| 1st Director of the Office of the Exchange Fund | |
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In office 1991–1993 |
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| Governor | Chris Patten |
| Succeeded by | Office Abolished |
| Member of the board of directors of the Swiss Bank UBS AG, Member of the Corporate Culture and Responsibility Committee and the Risk Committee |
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Assumed office 2011 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Joseph YAM Chi-kwong 9 September 1948 |
| Nationality | Hong Kong Chinese |
| Political party | none |
| Alma mater | University of Hong Kong |
| Occupation | Retired |
| Profession | Economist Statistician |
| Signature |  |
| Joseph Yam | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 任志剛 | ||||||
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| Simplified Chinese | 任志刚 | ||||||
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| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Rén Zhìgāng |
The Honourable Joseph YAM Chi-kwong, GBM, GBS, CBE, JP (born 1948, Hong Kong)) is a Hong Kong statistician, economist and civil servant. Since 2011, Yam has been a member of the board of directors of the Swiss Bank UBS AG. In 2014, following UBS AG's restructuring, he was appointed to the board of directors of the UBS Group AG.
Joseph Yam graduated from the University of Hong Kong in economics, social sciences and statistics with first class honors in 1970.
Yam joined the Government of Hong Kong as a statistician in 1971 and became an economist in 1976. Subsequently, in 1982, Yam was appointed as Principal Assistant Secretary for Monetary Affairs.
In 1983, Yam contributed to formulating the peg between the Hong Kong dollar and US dollar. In 1985, he was appointed as Deputy Secretary for Monetary Affairs and in 1991, as a Director of the Office of the Exchange Fund. When the Office of the Exchange Fund merged with the Office of the Commissioner of Banking in 1993, Yam became the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), position that he held until October 2009.
In 1995, the Hong Kong Institute of Bankers voted Yam as Banker of the Year.
Despite a study conducted by S. K. Tsang, a Professor of Economics in Hong Kong Baptist University, entitled "A Study of the Linked Exchange Rate System and Policy Options for Hong Kong" and indicating there were weaknesses of the HKD-USD exchange rate peg system during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, Yam did not amend the narrow-based peg, but defended the Hong Kong dollar by pushing up interest rates. In particular, Yam pushed the overnight Interbank rates up to 280% on 23 October 1997.
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