Getting on with business (hktdc.com)


	David Eldon still likes coming home to Hong Kong

Former HSBC Chairman David Eldon headed one of Asia's leading financial institutions for six years before stepping down after 37 years with the HSBC Group. Despite "retiring" three years ago, the former banker shows no signs of slowing down, shuttling between the Middle East and Asia. He currently serves as chairman of the Dubai International Financial Centre Authority, and is an economic adviser to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. Despite a successful banking career, Mr Eldon says that an office job, initially, was the furthest thing from his mind.

"I had originally considered a job in the police or air force because of my military-school background. I was happier out of doors, and I had always thought that an office job wasn't for me, particularly, given my not-so illustrious academic career. But then someone suggested a banking career overseas, which appealed because of the prospect of an adventure. So I embarked on my career with an Australian banking group in London in 1964. My first overseas posting came four years later, with the British Bank of the Middle East. I thought I would be in the Middle East for the next 30 years, but I didn't know back then that the bank I joined was already owned by the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

I chose the Middle East because I expected it to be something completely different – and it was. One of earliest experiences was in Oman, where our bank was tasked with switching the currency of the country, which had been using the Indian rupee, to a new one. I remember riding through rugged terrain without proper roads in a convoy of armed trucks filled with cash, making stops by the roadside for people wanting to exchange money.

During the 1970s, there were an increasing number of staff exchanges between the Middle East and Asia, and in 1979, I was posted to Hong Kong, which I assumed would be a three-year stay. It turned out that despite brief stints back in the Middle East and Malaysia, in the end, I spent most of my banking career in Hong Kong.

Invigorating city

Hong Kong was really not so different then from what it is now: it remains a city under construction. In the past 20 years or more I've been here, Hong Kong, as a business city, has not changed much. It remains an innovating city, getting on with business and its single-mindedness of being a capitalist city.

Since 1997, one change for me is a sense that Hong Kong people have become more confident about being part of China. They have become more comfortable with the idea of having their capital city nearby, as part of their home.

Hong Kong continues to be resilient, responding well to crisis. But in the process of the public having found a greater voice in public affairs, I find that there has also been a greater tendency for people to expect the government to bail them out the moment something goes wrong, rather than working it out for themselves as they would have done previously.

As a member of the business community, I have found that participating in bodies such as the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council provide you with a platform to put forward ideas for how to make Hong Kong better, always assuming that the role carries with it the ability to criticise as well as promote when necessary. It also means that when people overseas ask about Hong Kong, we are able to give an independent view as part of the business community, which means it comes with a certain degree of credibility that Government cannot give.

Among friends

It was not a difficult decision to retire in Hong Kong. I've been out of Britain now for more than 40 years. My wife and I discussed it prior to my retirement. I knew I wanted to carry on working, and use my knowledge of this region because people know me here. My friends are here. And there are a lot of interesting things going on here that I want to be a part of.

I took up an offer to become a Senior Adviser of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Hong Kong, as they were looking to expand their services in the financial arena in the mainland. I also travel monthly to South Korea, where I am special adviser to the national competitiveness committee, in the office of President Lee Myung-bak. Even presidents need to be told what they may sometimes do not want to hear. But he's a businessman, who understands that not everything goes in a straight line. In the end, he still has the choice of whether or not to take my advice. And I travel regularly to the Middle East, given my interests there.

What I like best about Hong Kong is coming back home. It's compact, is an easy place to do business, and where the rules are clear. It's a place that draws people of all nationalities to make a life here. By and large, it's a pretty welcoming place."