A new Official Receiver takes over the Official Receiver’s Office on 29 June 2011 when Ms Teresa Wong Siu-wan steps into the position left by Mr ET O’Connell who is retiring.
As noted in the press release, the new Official Receiver takes over at a time when the office faces a number of challenges.
There is talk of another round of consultation on the long…no, let’s make that the very long awaited Provisional Supervision and Insolvent Trading bill.
Given the length of time this has been under consideration there is real hope that this will be the final hurdle and it will eventually pass into legislation. On the other hand there is a good deal of scepticism that it will ever become law and that Hong Kong will lose a real opportunity to have a proper corporate rescue process.
Then there is the update to the winding-up provisions of the Companies Ordinance where it is hoped that the review, in which the Official Receiver’s Office will be closely involved, will start later this year. Given that these provisions have not been substantially updated for many years, this is likely to be a major undertaking.
I’m sure that many in the insolvency profession in Hong Kong are looking forward to contributing towards meeting these challenges and working with the new Official Receiver and her team.