The Twentieth Annual General Meeting was held on 26 June 2002 at Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel. The following Chairman's Report was presented by Mr. Kotaro Takamori.

Chairman Report

The Leasing Symposium among the 3 Territories in Greater China
It is a common goal among members to explore the leasing markets in Greater China. Besides business expansion, now that a significant portion of Hong Kong leased equipment is placed in the PRC has made it more important than ever to know more about leased assets protection, liaise with Chinese officials, and get in touch with the latest developments there. It is also the common objective of fellow leasing associations in the PRC and Taiwan to establish formal relationship with us.

After months of hard work, the first leasing symposium among leasing associations in Greater China was held in Beijing form 15th to 16th last November. More than 130 participants attended the event.

The first day was dedicated to topical presentations by learned experts in the leasing industry and academics and the following day a leasing forum that was wrapped up by signing the first co-operative agreement among leasing associations in the 3 territories.

The agreement laid down a number of common goals, including leasing information sharing, joint training programmes, reciprocal visits, co-ordination to solving counterpart issues, exploration of leasing in Greater China and study for the betterment of leasing practices & environment, etc.

The 2 leasing associations in the PRC jointly hosted the symposium last year and the coming one, tentatively to be held next year, will be the turn of Taiwan.

Amembal Leasing Workshop, 2002
Amembal & Associates is a world-renowned leasing training institution. Its Chairman, Mr. Sudhir P. Amembal, is an industry expert and in his personal capacity, an advisor to many international leasing bodies, including the Asian Leasing Association.

It was 11 years ago that the instituion held its leasing workshop in Hong Kong at the then Hilton Hotel, now erected the Cheung Kong Centre. That workshop was also organized by our Association.

Mr. Amembal gave an all-round review of leasing, from definition, leasing calculations, taxation and accounting treatment to the leasing advantages, structuring, marketing, latest leasing trends and new products. All 27 participants had had 3 days of intensive lectures. We had participants from as far as Jinan in Shantung Province, PRC to Malaysia and Bangladesh in South East Asia. It was truly an international and vibrant leasing Workshop that participants left with so much to chew and digest mentally.

Protection of Leased Assets in the PRC
Percy reported in the last AGM the completion of drafting full set of documents for registration of leased assets and enforcement of lease contracts in the PRC. After tests by fellow members, we found there were practical problems in its implemention. Different localities in even Guangdong Province alone have their own interpretation of the documents. Some fundamental issues remain unresolved. Your Exco has worked hard to standardize the procedures to start from some test areas and the next Exco I am confident, will carry on this job with the same vigour.

The Association Web Site
The Web site of the Association, www.hkela.org.hk, was launched in September last year.

It is a real time meeting place. We encourage you to access it as much as possible. Suggestions and comments are both welcome. We have noticed that speed of interaction has been greatly enhanced. Your active participation will give us the direction to move ahead.

Close to the end of my report, my chairmanship would not be have functioned at all without the devotion of your Exco members who have sacrificed their valuable time to meet once a month at 9:00 a.m., and finish on time the no less demanding committee works. Here may I introduce them and please give a big hand to their humble but significant work:

Vice Chaiman: Mr. Ivan Chak - Trilease International Limited
Honorary Treasurer: Mr. Robert Ng - CITIC Ka Wah Bank
Honorary Secretary: Mr. Joe Tam - Johnson, Stokes & Master
Exco Members:
Mr. Percy Lau - Citicorp Commercial Finance (HK) Ltd. and the immediate Past Chairman
Mr. Yuji Yamada - Showa Leasing (HK) Ltd.
Mr. Dennis Lau - GE Capital Finance Ltd.
Mr. Raymond Wong - Dah Sing Bank, Ltd. (The Ex-honorary Treasurer who resigned for personal reason in the term).

I will pass my baton to the incoming Chairman who will be elected in the next Exco meeting. It's my pleasure to serve you and a great learning experience!

Thank you very much indeed!