Breakfast briefing

There has been a lot of change in the UK tax system for UK expats last year. With one eye ahead on what's coming up in April 2013, Julie Hutchison, Head of Technical Insight of Standard Life, will share an update on current issues. This could be relevant for you because you’re a Pilot whose job makes you mobile. Or perhaps you’ve married someone from outside the UK? Maybe you still have some UK assets which you’ve kept, even after moving to Hong Kong? Or are you thinking of returning to the UK? A variety of new rules from April will have an impact in each of these scenarios: come along and hear more about what’s going on.

The gross built space including residential, offices and government buildings in Hong Kong is estimated to cover over 70 million square meters. The sustainability of the building life cycle can make a significant impact on Hong Kong's environment. The Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) was established in November 2009 as the leading body driving the promotion and creation of green, sustainable buildings and standards.

The Chamber's Construction Industry Group has invited Conrad Wong, Chairman of HKGBC, to brief on the work and initiatives of the Council and discuss the green building challenges facing the building industry.

This event is cancelled and will be re-scheduled to a lunch seminar in January 2013.

Chris Parry, Rear Admiral in the Royal Navy, will address the key global challenges and risks facing the world community over the next 20 years and deal with the likely implications of current crises in Syria, the Gulf and the Asia-Pacific region. It will describe how the world is moving towards a more distributed, fragmented system of power and influence and outline how military and security will be affected by new technologies and more complex human networks.
 

The British Chamber has invited Professor Richard Wong to talk about the real effects of minimum wages on helping low earnings individuals improve their pay. He will discuss who gains economically from the minimum wage and who gets hurt; and whether helping poor households can be achieved through minimum wage legislation. He will also explain why politically minimum wage legislation is very popular with politicians and what is its effect on the economy as a whole. Further more, he will examine the case in Hong Kong and offer his thoughts on how to minimize the damages as well as highlight some political economy considerations in Hong Kong.
 

After struggling to find a solid footing in China, foreign banks operating in the country may be finally hitting their stride. They experienced their most profitable year in China in 2011, where profits more than doubled to RMB 17 billion.

Despite China's subdued economic outlook and limited avenues for growth, foreign banks surveyed in the Seventh PwC Foreign Banks in China report remain optimistic about their prospects, projecting annual revenue growth of 20% or more until 2015.
 

Alderman David Wootton took office as the 684th Lord Mayor of the City of London on Friday 11th November 2011. The Lord Mayor will speak about the continuing strength of the UK’s financial services industry and how the UK is looking to build up its export markets, especially in Asia. He will also touch on recent events in the City and the domestic political debate about its role.
 

 THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED NEW DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED. Please contact cynthia@britcham.com for more information.

The World Bank now rates the global burden of mental ill health second only to that of infectious disease. More than ever we are seeing the psychological impact that financial uncertainty has on the stress and anxiety levels of executives.

Stress at work undoubtedly costs both companies and individuals. More recently, large corporations are recognising the financial benefits of protecting the emotional health of their key executives and are actively investing in building their resilience skills to help protect through difficult times.

As Burma starts to open up its economy and politics become more stable, the country has again captured the interest of businesses around the world. The decades of isolation make it an emerging market with a wealth of opportunities but with a number of uncertainties.

From the safety and operational perspective, what are the challenges and outlook of the country? When travelling to Burma for business, how can organisations identify and manage the risks? How can business executives, investors and in the longer term their staff look after themselves there short or long term? Paul Blinkhorn from Travel Security Services will present and discuss these areas with you.