Welcoming the participants in the Auditorium in Arsenal House, CCB Chief Superintendent Armond Chan highlighted the importance of working in partnership and keeping pace with the latest crime trends, so as to ensure the integrity of and public confidence in the financial system of Hong Kong..

He also highlighted the new opportunities and challenges in the financial sector, brought about by the rapid development of information and communication technology and the wider application of the Internet - particularly in respect of e-transactions. As a result, the anti-cybercrime "2009 Clean Computer Day" campaign has been set to focus on "safety in e-transactions".

CSP Chan went on to cite the success of two crime prevention initiatives that have been implemented in recent years. "e-ALERT" allows timely dissemination to the right persons of information on the updated crime trends that may impact on the financial sector, helping the industry to get better prepared and to avoid becoming a victim of crime.

The second initiative has been establishment of a "District Response Team" to strengthen communication between frontline bank staff and Police officers in districts to combat "street deception". When there is suspicion that an unwary bank customer, usually an aged person, has fallen victim to "street deception", the bank staff can alert the local police quickly so that a crime can be averted.

The seminar was divided into different sections and many of the speakers were experienced frontline CCB investigators with first-hand information on the latest commercial crime trends. Furthermore, two distinguished guest speakers provided expert perspectives of cybercrime trends: Mr Anthony Fung from Microsoft (Asia Pacific) and Mr S C Leung from the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team.

Mr Fung shared his overseas experience of the computer systems of a financial institution being compromised by cyber criminals, while Mr Leung spoke of the latest threats caused by BotNets (Robot Networks - Computers are compromised and remotely controlled by criminals for various criminal activities), and the related underground economy. Both were articulate speakers whose unique insights provided many points for consideration by the audience and led to requests to hear more from them.

The final session of the seminar saw a lively discussion and exchange of opinions on various crime prevention methods. More noteworthy was a strong observation made by Woman Chief Inspector Gloria Kwok of CCB, who stated: "The Police and the industry are serving the public from different positions and there should not be any conflict between them. As long as we make an effort to walk an extra mile, the well being of our fellow citizens can be guaranteed."

WCIP Kwok's remarks won loud and long applause, and gave the seminar a perfect ending.

Commercial Crime Bureau Chief Superintendent Armond Chan presents letters of appreciation to the two guest speakers for the seminar