20 May 2021
On 3 May 2021, The Institute published a set of FAQs that addressed a number of questions relating the Institute’s name change initiative.
Background
Over the last decade, the Institute in Hong Kong and the Mainland, together with the Chartered Governance Institute (‘CGI’), has been implementing a repositioning exercise that seeks to improve the understanding of the company secretary’s role and its place in the wider governance profession.
The proposed name change intends to put an official seal on a repositioning exercise that has greatly improved the understanding of the company secretarial role and its place in the wider governance profession.
The misperceptions of the company secretarial role have not been helped by the associations of the term ‘secretary’. This term has an august history that goes back to the Latin term secretarius. Some of the highest offices in organisations globally take this title – the General Secretary of the United Nations for one. Nevertheless, in common parlance, the term is usually understood to refer to a personal assistant who sits in front of the boss’s door and types, keeps appointments and makes coffee.
Seven out of the nine divisions of CGI have already changed, or are in the process of changing, their names with a stronger association to the word ‘governance’. Only Hong Kong and Singapore have yet to do so.
Proposed new Name
The Institute to be renamed as ‘The Hong Kong Chartered Governance Institute’ and in Chinese: ‘香港公司治理公會’. This has been tentatively agreed by the Companies Registry for registration.
For further information, please contact:
Emma Tsang, Director, Hauzen LLP
info@hauzen.hk
