I am pleased to take this opportunity to share with you some of the work performed by the General Practice Division in promoting and maintaining GP surveyors’ professional standards and standing during the year. The details are as follows:
Internal Affairs
In 2014, with the efforts of the organising committee led by Sr Eugina FOK and Tony WAN, we organised the 2014 Valuation Conference - Valuation Practice in Hong Kong on 28 June 2014 which saw 250 participants in attendance. This was the first-ever Valuation Conference organised by the GPD since its establishment in 1984.
The CPD conveners (Sr Jason CW CHAN, Harry CHAN, JIM Chun Yip, Jim LAM and Simon POON) actively arranged over 42 CPD programmes and seminars to cover a wide range of topics such as the Hong Kong property market, asset management and sale of properties through transfer of company shares. All events were well-attended.
Similar to last year’s arrangement and to help candidates prepare for their APC written examinations, the GPD Education Committee, co-convened by Sr Edward AU and Louie CHAN, successfully conducted 17 sessions (51 hours) of the APC SLP to cover the entire syllabus of Part 1 of the GPD APC written examination. Revision workshops to cover the entire syllabus of Part 1 and Part II of the APC have also been held for all candidates during this year.
To strengthen communications between the GPD Council and members, I convened a round table meeting in the afternoon of 12 September 2014 with a group of representatives from various firms on the GPD Company List to exchange views on the supply and demand of manpower in the GP surveying profession. In addition, through visits and various seminars or conferences that I attended in mainland China, I met various mainland HKIS members or GP surveyors stationed in the mainland and updated them on the recent developments of the GPD in Hong Kong.
We were deeply honoured to have the presence of Ms Bernadette LINN, JP, Director of Lands, as the speaker at a HKIS Surveyors Luncheon organised by the GPD Council and held on 21 February 2014 (Friday) at the World Trade Center Club in Causeway Bay. The Director delivered a talk on “Land Administration: Challenges for Professionals and Laymen Alike”. The event was well-attended with over 100 participants.
External Affairs
To maintain our relationship with the various professional entities in the mainland and to promote our profession, I was invited by the Beijing Real Estate Valuer Association (BREVA) to meet its representatives in Beijing on 29 April 2014 to explore better communication and cooperation between the HKIS GPD and BREVA. We took the view that more activities could be arranged in the future, such as conferences and seminars to enhance members’ professional knowledge and practices in the counterpart territories. I also met a delegation of three representatives from the Shenzhen Society of Certified Public Appraisers led by Mr Li Xiheng in the morning of 29 September 2014 in the HKIS office.
To further strengthen our relationship with CIREA, I met Ms Li Juan, Director of CIREA’s Department of Foreign Affairs, and Ms He Nam, Director of CIREA’S Development and Services Department, at the HKIS’s Beijing office on 29 August 2014 to exchange views on how both institutes could best organise joint CPD programmes for dual members of both institutes.
Given the recent development of business valuation and IP valuation practices in the mainland, we have explored the possibility to work with the China Appraisal Society (CAS) in promoting business valuation and intellectual properties (IP) valuation in the Greater China region. The President Sr Simon KWOK and I together with the Vice President Sr Edward AU and Co-opted Council Member Sr Elsa NG paid visits to the CAS in May and in October this year. In the meetings, we discussed different scenarios where both HKIS and CAS could work together to promote business valuation and intellectual properties valuation in Greater China. Both parties also exchanged views on the possibility to introduce a reciprocity arrangement between the parties.
Apart from the above visits, we have the mission to promote GP surveying practice to the public. I was invited by the China Real Estate Valuers and Agents Association to attend a technical seminar in Beijing on 30 August 2014 co-organised by BREVA to introduce how GP surveyors used available databases on hand to conduct real property valuations in Hong Kong. I also had a chance to meet the Guest of Honour of the seminar, Mr Hu Cunzhi, the Vice-Minister of the PRC’s Ministry of Land and Resources.
HKIS was a co-organiser with the Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers for the 2014 International Real Property Valuation Conference in Beijing, which was also co-organised along with CIREA and WAVO. I was invited to give a talk on “The Best Practice for Real Property Valuation in Hong Kong” on 24 October 2014. More than 300 participants from different parts of the world joined the conference. At the end of the conference, I took the time to invite the mainland HKIS members attending the seminar to take a group photo on the stage with other HKIS delegates.
Due to the implementation of the fair value hierarchy in financial statements reporting, there are some disclosure matters between GP surveyors and auditors regarding financial reporting valuations that need to be addressed. To help both professions move forward, I initiated and was invited by the Society of Chinese Accountants and Auditors on 14 June 2014 to conduct a technical seminar with its
members. The theme of the seminar was “The Relationship between Valuers and Auditors in preparing/assessing Valuations for Financial Statement Purposes”. Similar technical seminars are being arranged for various accounting practitioners, such as on 27 November and 9 December 2014 with two key accounting firms, respectively.
Sr Edward AU and I were invited by the Intellectual Property Department of the HKSAR to join a round table meeting to explore the possibility of GP surveyors in providing IP (intellectual property) valuation in Hong Kong since 2012, as we are definitely capable of providing such a service in the Greater China region. I am promoting this GP surveying capability to the public.
To promote our expertise in asset management, a HKIS delegation (a joint division collaboration between the PFMD, GPD, and PDD) paid a visit to the Non-bank Financial Institutions Supervision Division of the China Banking Regulatory Commission’s Shanghai Office, to discuss further collaboration between the HKIS and the Commission to promote asset management and explore the possibility of developing the asset management profession in Shanghai. The GPD is now working closely with the PFMD and Mainland Affairs Committee in arranging an asset management seminar in Shanghai to enlarge GP surveyors’ scope of work.
Early this year, as initiated and organised by Sr Alex LAM and KK CHIU, a 16-member delegation consisting of council members and members from the various divisions led by the President Sr Simon KWOK paid a technical visit to Tianjin for the period 28-30 April 2014. With this technical visit to Tianjin, HKIS delegations have now visited all of the four municipalities in China. We were also tasked by the General Council of the HKIS as the key division for promoting the 2014 Cross-Strait Land Conference, with GPD Immediate Past Chairman, Sr Francis NG and Co-opted Council Member, Sr Dr Lawrence POON attending the conference to promote the GP profession.
One of our missions is to maintain good relationships with other overseas bodies. The Appraisal Institute (AI) delegation visited the HKIS on 29 May 2014. The delegation was welcomed by the HKIS President, Sr Simon KWOK, Sr KK CHIU and myself.
The World Association of Valuation Organisations (WAVO) held its Board Meeting and Annual General Meeting (the WAVO Meetings) in Hong Kong on 9 May 2014. As an association member of WAVO, the HKIS helped coorganise this year’s annual gathering in its head office at Wing On Centre, which was attended by WAVO board members from different countries. The WAVO delegates were received by the HKIS President, Sr Simon KWOK, GPD Immediate Past Chairman, Sr Francis NG and Vice President, Sr Edward AU. The WAVO also held its 2014 Board Meeting in Beijing on 22 October 2014. Sr Edward AU represented the HKIS in joining the WAVO Board Meeting.
As initiated by Sr KK CHIU and CK LAU, we co-organised with the RICS Asia Valuation Professional Group Board the first-ever joint valuation conference on 14 November 2014. As one of the GPD’s events to commemorate the HKIS 30th anniversary, the conference was well-attended with over 220 participants. Through this conference, we strived to raise industry standards of the GP profession, to enrich the knowledge of valuation practitioners, and to offer a comprehensive view of the Asia Pacific region.
Local Affairs
There were two real estate issues that affected the supply of land and housing in Hong Kong that drew our attention this year.
The GPD was tasked by the General Council to lead the Working Group on the Pilot Scheme for Arbitration on Land Premium (Pilot Scheme) and to submit a proposal to advise the government on the possible framework of the Pilot Scheme. The GPD also prepared a list of professional surveyors in valuation (the “List”) who are qualified to act as the Arbitrator under this Pilot Scheme. The List was published on the HKIS GPD webpage for public reference on 15 November 2014. Qualified GPD members may contact the HKIS Administrative Office for application details if they wish to apply to be included on the List.
A Joint Working Group with 9 members from the HKIA and 8 members from the HKIS (including Vincent HO, Senior Vice President and Edward AU, Charles CHAN, Tony WAN and CK LAU who were on the GPD Council) was formed to deal with two recent LAO Practice Notes on Design, Disposition and Height Clause under Lease Conditions (DDH) and Accountable and Non-accountable Gross Floor Area (GFA) under Lease.
Professional Standards
Being a valuation organisation of the IVSC, the GPD Council agreed to enter a multi-party MoU early this year with other valuation organisations in the IVSC to support a public commitment to a single set of global standards. The HKIS General Council endored the proposal and relevant arrangements are in progress.
Following the RICS’s acceptance of the use of Hong Kong Laws to resolve disputes in the copyright agreement between the HKIS and RICS on the Guidance Notes for Surveyors Serving as Experts in Commercial Rent Review Determinations (the “GN”), action is now needed for the HKIS’s execution of the copyright agreement in due course. Once accomplished, the GN will be released to members of both institutes for their reference.
A registration requirement from an overseas institute has caused concern for our GPD members and firms. In response, a position letter was published in the Surveyors Times and sent to each of the GPD members by email to clarify the HKIS position on the issue. Subsequent work to deal with the concerns are in progress.
A Vote of Thanks
I wish to take this opportunity to thank GPD Council Members (and co-opted members) who made relentless efforts and gave support to the Council during various functions and activities over the past year.
Please refer to the Surveyors Times for details.
Looking Ahead
The Council will continue to build up communications between the Council and members as well as to maintain our relationship with overseas valuation organizations. The Council will take a proactive role to strengthen the HKIS’s position in the IVSC and WAVO. With the support of China’s Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Land and Resources, we are currently working on possible reciprocity discussion with the CAS and CREVA in China.
The Council will continue providing its input on various local matters and will from time to time recruit relevant specialists and assign the best members to handle the appropriate issues. The arrangement of a certified Structural Learning Programme will also be continued. Last but not least, the Council is working on further developing the recognition of our members’ professionalism in the area of intellectual property valuation, project management and asset management.
The GPD AGM 2014
The GPD AGM 2014 was successfully held on 19 November 2014 in the SLC, HKIS at Wing On Centre. There were a total of 18 members in attendance.
Delegation Visit to Beijing under CEPA
GPD Council Member Sr Charles Chan and Co-opted Council Member Sr Elsa Ng joined the HKIS delegation to visit Beijing under CEPA during the period 2 to 5 November 2014. The delegation visited MOHURD and several professional institutes under MOHURD, including CIREA, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Land and Resources, CREVA, the Ministry of Finance and CAS. GPD representatives summarised the past close communications with various professional institutes and discussed matters of common interest with various ministries and professional institutes.
HKIS RICS Joint Valuation Conference 2014
The GPD co-organised with the RICS Asia Valuation Professional Group Board the first-ever joint valuation conference on Friday 14 November 2014, titled “Value in a Changing World – Policy Compliance and Client Mandates” in the Grand Ballroom of the Harbour Grand Hong Kong. As one of the GPD’s events to commemorate the HKIS 30th anniversary, the Conference was well-attended with over 200 participants.
The main objective of the Conference was to raise industry standards of the GP profession, to enrich the knowledge of valuation practitioners, and to offer a comprehensive view of the Asia Pacific region, such that participants could benefit from the unique presentations given by the distinguished speakers.
We were delighted to have Dr Zhang Guo Chun, Secretary General of the Chin Appraisal Society to give a lunch keynote speech on the updates and recent developments of the liberalisation and restructuring measures in asset valuation practice in China.
The speakers at the Conference were invited from the private, public, government, accounting, and education sectors. Their topics covered convergence of international standards, IFRS13 – fair value valuation, intellectual property valuation and its opportunities in the region, the recent development and opportunities for valuation practice in the region, the impact of macro policy standards on valuation such as mass appraisal on property tax valuation in the region, and liberalisation of the REIT code.
With the overwhelming participation and support of the guests, speakers, moderators, sponsors and participants, HKIS RICS Joint Valuation Conference 2014 was truly a successful event. We hope all attendees found it an enjoyable and fruitful experience.
