News

The Monetary Authority of Macao (AMCM) has implemented corresponding supervisory requirements on the selling of investment products since 2004. Such requirements cover due diligence of customers including understanding their financial status, investment experience and purpose, risk appetite and tolerance, etc.; sufficient description and disclosure of the corresponding products such as name, content, structure, special features, and the associated risks as well; establishment and implementation of internal control and risk management including policy, procedures, senior management oversight, control activities, compliance and audit etc.; ensurance of the qualification, experience and capability of the sales personnel. In the wake of the incident of Leman Brothers minibonds, the AMCM has taken immediate follow-ups and formed two internal working groups respectively responsible for receiving enquiries and complaints and for investigating the complaints received. As at 7:00 p.m. of 10th October, this Authority has received a total of 140 enquiries and 132 complaints. Of which, 52 cases filed in person while 80 in writing; 24 cases replied, 108 under verification, 18 in investigation, and 1 with superficial evidence. In addition to following up on individual enquiries and complaints, the AMCM has also exerted all-round efforts: requiring distributing institutions to provide full information about the affected situation and focus efforts to handle customer enquiries and complaints properly and timely; requiring distributing institutions to maintain close contact with the coordinating distributor and trustee in Hong Kong in order to have in hand the progress of the incident and provide updates to their customers in a timely manner; requiring distributing institutions to conduct self assessment on the selling procedures and internal controls on distribution of Lehman Brothers minibonds and submit self-assessment report to the AMCM; holding discussions with the coordinating distributor to understand the progress of the incident and solving plan under consideration and request them to provide information and assistance to the distributing institutions in Macao timely; maintaining close contact with the relevant supervisory authorities of Hong Kong and constructing point-to-point communication with them to understand the progress of the incident and solving plan concerned, requesting for assistance and arrangement where appropriate for the related parities of Macao to attend meetings to be held in Hong Kong in case of need and exchanging views about relevant supervisory issues; holding meetings with distributing institutions to follow up on the handling progress of their enquiries and complaints, their views on the solving plan proposed in Hong Kong and the progress of their self assessment; requiring all banks and financial intermediaries that are involved in the selling of investment products to conduct comprehensive review on the distribution and selling of investment products as an agent, to re-assess the risk level of investment products being distributed and the risk tolerance of related customers; establishing working groups and focusing resources to handle related enquiries and complaints; conducting onsite inspections and investigations at distributing institutions concerned; reviewing the existing supervisory regime on the distribution of investment products as an agent, the scope of which includes the policy for distribution such as whether such products should be distributed to general retail customers, distribution manner, i.e. active or passive selling, risk assessment and disclosure methodology, practices of advertisement or promotion, incentive scheme, and so on. It is noted that Hong Kong has taken the initiative of studying the arrangement for distributing institutions to buy back the concerned Lehman minibonds. An independent third party will be shortly mandated to assess the valuation of the relevant bonds and then use it as the base for the said buy-back. The excess of proceeds (if any) from disposal of the minibonds bought back by distributing institutions in the future will be returned to the relevant customers. The distributing institutions in Macao have stated that they would follow suit in this regard. The AMCM is investigating the complaints at all its strength and closely following up on the development of this issue, and requiring the distributing institutions to handle this issue in a timely and proper manner. Again, the AMCM reiterates that, if any misconduct of the distributing institution is found and proved in this respect, the AMCM will take disciplinary actions in accordance with the provisions of the prevailing laws and regulations.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that Macao registered 373,474 visitor arrivals in package tours in August 2008, down by 3.5% from a year earlier. Visitors from Southeast Asia (31,468) soared significantly by 119.2% year-on-year, while those from Mainland China (252,464) and Hong Kong (27,567) decreased by 10.7% and 6.1%. In the first eight months of 2008, visitor arrivals in package tours rose by 19.9% over the same period of 2007 to 3,192,670. The number of Macao residents travelling outbound in package tours increased by 7.5% year-on-year to 27,931 in August 2008. Mainland China (62.4%), Japan (11.1%) and Thailand (8.4%) were the three most popular tour itineraries. In the first eight months of 2008, Macao residents travelling in package tours rose by 6.2% over the same period of 2007 to 154,323. Meanwhile, 37,611 residents travelled outbound under individual arrangements using services provided by travel agencies, down by 29.8% over August 2007. Hong Kong (41.0%), Mainland China (25.5%) and Taiwan, China (13.7%) were the major destinations. In the first eight months of 2008, outbound residents travelling under such arrangements rose by 2.1% year-on-year to 255,301. At the end of August 2008, the total number of guest rooms available in the hotel sector grew by 799 (+5.1%) from a year earlier to 16,577 rooms. In August 2008, a total of 546,903 guests checked into hotels and similar establishments, up by 3.6% year-on-year; the majority of the guests came from Mainland China (43.8%) and Hong Kong (29.3%). The average hotel occupancy rate dropped by 7.1 percentage points to 76.7%, with 5-star hotels leading at 80.7%; in addition, the average length of stay of hotel guests extended by 0.2 night to 1.5 nights. Total number of hotel guests reached 4,342,112 in the first eight months of 2008, up by 17.6% over the same period of 2007. In the first eight months of 2008, visitor-guests staying in hotels accounted for 43.2% of the total number of tourists, up from 42.7% in the corresponding period of 2007.
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Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) organized a 10 day long “World Heritage Photo Exhibition – Macau Historic Centre” from October 9 in Paris, to promote Macau's unique cultural heritage and to reinforce its image as a prominent tourism destination. Director João Manuel Costa Antunes of MGTO, Minister-Advisor of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in France, Mr. Qu Xing, Head of Chinese Culture Center of the PRC in Paris, Mrs Hou Xianghua, Head of Promotion & Marketing Department of MGTO, Cecilia Tse and General Manager of MGTO Representative Office in France, Cyrille Schwartz officiated the Opening Ceremony. In 2005, "The Historic Centre of Macau" is enlisted on UNESCO's prestigious World Heritage List, raising the number of World Heritage Sites in China to 31. A selection of photos showcasing "The Historic Center of Macau", through which MGTO aims to further promote the world heritage of Macau in the European markets, will be displayed between October 9-18. The Chinese Cultural Center of the PRC is situated nearby the Seine River, in a prestigious building of the Haussmann period, where the culture of east meets west. To take the promotion a step further, on October 8, MGTO took part at the Opening Ceremony of Asia Pacific Roadshow (L’ASIE PACIFIQUE dans votre ville) at the Quai Branly Museum (Musée du quai Branly) to provide tourism destinations from Asia Pacific to market their products to French travel industry. Approximately 200 sellers and 400 buyers attended the event. Macau is represented with a stand to highlight Macau's multi-faceted tourism products and to distribute latest tourism information. In addition, the representation office of France, together with other Asia Pacific destinations, also attend a series of the Roadshow in other cities, Lille (Oct 14), Marseille (Oct 18), Nice (Oct 20), Strasbourg (Oct 23) to raise Macau’s image in France. The representative office of MGTO in France was set up in 2005, to expand the European market for Macau. Last year Macau welcomed over 36,000 visitors from France, nearly 26 per cent year-on-year growth. From January to August this year, received over 28,000 visitors, a growth of 23% compared to same period of last year.
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A co-ordination group for food safety today decided on a string of measures to further tighten controls on food safety. These include stricter supervision of food imports, establishing communication mechanism with neighboring regions, centralising the arrangement of laws on food inspection, and providing training for food inspectors. The Health Bureau and the Economic Services Bureau would continue to examine dairy products and announce results as they become available. Past test results are posted on the Macao Government website (www.gov.mo) and the Health Bureau website, where there is a specific information zone about melamine (http://www.ssm.gov.mo/foodsafety/melamine/cn/index.html). People could also call the hotline (2856 1122) operated by the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control for information.
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Jointly organized by the Consulate General of Canada in Hong Kong and Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), the “Catalogue Show of Canadian Products and Services” will be held from 13th October to 24th October 2008 (office hour only) at IPIM’s SME Service Centre of IPIM at Alameda Dr. Carlos d'Assumpçao No. 263, Edif. China Civil Plaza, 19 Andar, Macau (office hours: 09:00 am – 18:00 pm). Located in the North America, Canada’s major national outputs rely on natural resource industry, manufacturing industry and service industry. Major exports range from motor vehicles and parts, industrial machinery, electronics, oil, natural gas, metals, wood and fertilizers. In 2007, imports from Canada reached 90.8 million patacas, of which mainly included machinery and equipment, wood, medicine, skincare and food. Compared with import value of 98.5 million in 2006.Till July 2008, total import value already reached 68.9 million patacas, a 41.7% increased in comparing with the same period in 2007(Jan – July). Canada has been having frequented trading cooperation with Macau, its investment scope in Macau has included Educational, Traveling and Trading service industries. The captioned event is going to be the first American country-themed Catalogue Show ever held at SMEC Display catalogues in this Show include Food and Beverage, Medical and Health, Environmental industry, Construction and Building products, Education, Information and Communication Technology, etc. There are in total over 50 types of Catalogues, such as Agriculture industry, seafood industry and food promotion etc. As well as introducing the different types of Canadian’s industries’ developments, product pamphlets of 17 Canadian companies/export associations in the collection include, food and beverage, medical and health, and educational organization are looking for product agents and distributors in Macao. Local SMEs in search for partners or distribution rights from Canada and interested parties are cordially invited to visit at MBSC during office hours (9am to 6 pm). For queries, please contact Mr Ho or Ms Wong of Small and Medium Enterprise Service Centre (28728212) or visit IPIM’s website and Macao Trade and Invest Kiosk.
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The AACVB announced its commitment to promote Asia as a MICE hub, at the 20th AACVB Annual General Meeting and the 2nd Asian Meeting Industry Leaders’ Summit, held between October 5 and 6 in Bangkok. Although AACVB was established in 1983, the newly-announced management changes and action plan reflect a new high level commitment and unity of purpose to drive the future of the regional MICE industry. Destinations around the region have given their strong backing to AACVB’s members due to the growing importance of the MICE sector to national economies across Asia. At the event, top Asian MICE industry leaders from Mainland China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea and Thailand developed a new action, focusing on 5 key goals for Asia’s MICE industry; · AACVB plans to raise its members’ share of the global convention market · World-class standards in Asia’s MICE sector are to be established.
· Asian branding for MICE products and services are to be developed and promoted
· MICE business will be promoted as a key economic driver in the region. · Communication and collaboration among members will be facilitated, in order to ensure effective and successful market positioning and competitive strategy. The meeting also discussed the expansion of its membership base to facilitate wider networking. As a result, the AACVB’s by-laws have been amended, re-defined to state that “…membership in AACVB will be available to MICE Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) which are responsible for developing MICE business in the “Asian market region” and MICE related registered enterprises within a voting member’s destination.”. Changes in AACVB’s organization were also announced at the event. Mr.Natwut Amornvivat Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau president was elected as AACVB’s new president. Executive Director of the Philippines Convention and Visitors Corporation, Mr.Daniel L.Corpuz was elected as AACVB Vice-President, and Mr. João Manuel Costa Antunes, Director of the Macau Government Tourist Office, voted to serve as AACVB secretary and treasurer. Mr. Amornvivat stated that “ This is a clear sign that the association is in harmony to move
ahead with a clear plan to make Asia as one of the world’s leading region for MICE. “The success of this meeting reflects the seriousness and commitment among all members. AACVB’s members are working even harder to break down boundary barriers to promote Asia as a major MICE destination’. Mr. Amornvivat indicated that AACVB’s plans will be clarified when its new strategic plan will be finalized at its next meeting in Macau on 24th October. Mr. Amornvivat added that Asia has major potential to become a key global MICE destination. The region is the world’s fastest-growing economy, especially China and India. All destinations are also more diverse as a selling point to attract corporate clients. Joining hands between members will also help increase regional competitiveness. AACVB was founded in 1983 in Manila, the Philippines; Macau has hosted the headquarters and permanent secretariat of the Association since 1987.
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The Government today inked temporary two-year concession contracts on public passenger transport with two bus companies, effective 15 October 2008. The Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Mr Lau Si Io, signed on behalf of the Macao SAR Government, with the present public bus operators, namely TCM (Sociedade de Transportes Colectivos de Macau) and Transmac (Macau Mass Transport Company). In accordance with the contract terms, the Government would strengthen its leading role in coordination of bus routes. Meanwhile, the bus operators have to invest resources in purchasing new vehicles, provide professional training for drivers to lift the quality of bus services. In the future, the Government would introduce competition by opening up certain routes to other operators.
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Macau welcomed 645,513 visitors during the China National Day golden week (September 29 to October 5), a 10.01 per cent increase compared to the same period (1 October to 7 October) of last year. Among the total of visitors, 63 per cent, or more than 410 thousand people, came from Mainland China, 6.46 per cent more than the same period in 2007, according to figures of the Public Security Police Force. On the other hand, the number of international visitors saw a strong increase of 50 per cent during golden week, amounting to a 10.21 per cent share of the total. Both the average occupancy rate and hotel room rate have also slightly decreased. According with figures provided by Macau hotels, the occupancy rate of three to five star hotels was 81.7 per cent, a slightly decrease of 3.61 percentage point compared to the golden week last year. During the golden week this year, Macau counted a total of 16,363 available hotel rooms, comparing with the number of last year, there was an increase of 1,776 rooms. At the same time, the average of total occupied rooms were 13,437 with a growth of 8.2 percent, showing more tourists stayed overnight in hotels during that period. The hotel room rate of three to five stars hotels was 1,062.36 patacas, a small decrease of 2.64 percent compared to last year. Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO), the Guangdong Provincial Tourism Administration and the Fujian Tourism Administration activated from September 25 the Golden Week notification system. The channel of communication remains in force until today, October 6. MGTO asked tourism operators to make more use of the border gate at Cotai (Ponte Flor de Lótus) as a gateway to entry and exit Macau in order to disperse tourists. Urban public bus companies were also asked to send more vehicles to the routes passing by Ponte Flor de Lótus Bridge. During the golden week period MGTO inspectors intensified surveillance at Macau’s most visited sites. MGTO is also distributing the brochure "Enjoy Macau", reminding Mainland tourists on matters to pay attention to when visiting the city. MGTO’s Information Counters and the Tourist Hotline (28333000) functioned as usual during the holiday period.
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The Government will introduce a series of measures to limit the employment of foreign workers, to boost the employment of local workers in Macao. This was announced by the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr Francis Tam Pak Yuen, when attended a special meeting in the Legislative Council. Mr Tam gave details of the measures to legislators and to hear their comments. He said the government would: - Effective 1 January 2009, not approval any application for importing foreign labour to fill in supervisory positions in the gaming industry, - With immediate effect, not accept any new application for the import of construction workers. The Government would review the present situation and may gradually reduce the numbers already here, and - Halve the number of foreign workers currently employed as cleaners or security guards, by not renewing contracts when they expire. Mr Tam explained the move was aimed at lowering the unemployment rate of local workers in Macao.
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Macau welcomed 390,683 visitors on the first four days (September 29 to October 2) of the China National Day golden week, a 13.2 per cent increase compared to the same period of last year. Among the total of visitors, 65 per cent, or 254,139 people, came from Mainland China, 6.3 per cent more than the same period in 2007, according to figures of the Public Security Police Force referring to the period from September 29 to October 2. On the other hand, the number of international visitors saw a strong increase of 63.5 per cent on the first four days of the golden week, amounting to a 9.6 per cent share of the total, corresponding to 37,671 visitors. Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO), the Guangdong Provincial Tourism Administration and the Fujian Provincial Tourism Administration activated from September 25 the Golden Week notification system. The channel of communication will remain in force until October 6. Through this notification system, the Macau side transmits to its counterparts in Guangdong and Fujian daily information such as average room rates of hotels and inns for the ensuing five days, hotel occupancy rates and the number of visitors that entered Macau the day before, including the share of Mainland China visitors. During the golden week period MGTO inspectors are intensifying surveillance at Macau’s most visited sites. MGTO is also distributing the brochure "Enjoy Macau", reminding Mainland tourists on matters to pay attention to when visiting the city. MGTO’s Information Counters and the Tourist Hotline (28333000) are functioning as usual during the holiday period. This text is available at: www.macautourism.gov.mo
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