Honorary University Fellows

Citation delivered by Professor Gary BIDDLE, Dean of Business and Economics

Mr Raymond Ching Fai Or is a renowned banker, the former Director of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, and the former Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive of Hang Seng Bank.

Mr Or was born in Fujian province in 1949 and holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences degree in Economics and Psychology from this University.

He began his career as a Management Trainee with the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited in 1972.

He steadily worked his way up the ranks until he was promoted to Assistant General Manager and Head of Corporate and Institutional Banking in 1995, General Manager in 2000, and finally, Director at the beginning of 2005.

In addition to his term as Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive of Hang Seng Bank from 2005 to 2009, Mr Or has served as a non-Executive Director of Hang Seng Bank and Chairman of Hang Seng Bank (China) Limited.

Mr Or has been a Director of Cathay Pacific Airways Limited, Hutchison Whampoa Limited, and Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Limited.

He has also served as Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Hong Kong Association of Banks, on the Board of Directors of the Community Chest of Hong Kong, as an adviser of the Employers' Federation of Hong Kong, and as a member of the Planning Committee of the 5th East Asian Games. He remains on the Board of Directors of Esprit Holdings Limited and has recently been appointed Vice-Chairman and Non-Executive Director of G-Resources Limited.

Mr Or is also the Deputy Chairman of the Council of the City University of Hong Kong and a Member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Beijing Committee.

Mr Or was appointed Justice of the Peace in 2004 and awarded a Silver Bauhinia Star in 2009.

Ladies and Gentlemen, you may reasonably wonder how a man who has to run an enormous and complex organisation like a bank would have the energy and time to serve so many other organisations too.

Well, somehow Mr Or has.

And although we don't know how he does it, at HKU, we do know that we are very grateful to him for finding the energy and time for his alma mater.

The University has benefited from Mr Or's experience and counsel through his participation as a Member of our Council, and in his support of many of our developmental activities.

It gives me great pleasure, Mr Pro-Chancellor, to present Mr Raymond Ching Fai Or for the Honorary University Fellowship, in recognition of his contributions to Hong Kong and academia.