Benjamin Yu has been appointed the chairman of the Standing Committee on Company Law Reform from February 1.

He succeeds Justice Rogers who has held the post for the past 10 years. Mr Yu possesses the necessary legal background and expertise, and extensive experience in committee work, which make him the right person to lead the committee in mapping out its future work ahead.

Eleven incumbent members have also been re-appointed. They are:

* Roger Best;

* Prof Stephen Cheung;

* John Poon;

* Winston Poon;

* Michael Scales;

* David Stannard;

* Randolph Sullivan;

* William Tam;

* Richard Thornhill;

* Peter Wong; and

* Alvin Wong.

The appointments are for a one-year period, which is in line with past practice. They have been published in the gazette on January 16.

Financial Secretary Henry Tang said he was confident that the Committee's work would continue to reinforce Hong Kong's position as an international financial centre, supported by modern companies legislation of international standard and responsive to the needs of the business community.

He also expressed his deep personal thanks to the outgoing chairman, Justice Rogers, and outgoing member Henry Fan for the invaluable contribution they have made to the work of the Committee over the past decade.

"Under Justice Rogers's able leadership, the Committee has gone from strength to strength and has resolved many challenging and complex issues. In particular, the Committee has completed the Corporate Governance Review and the scrutiny of the Consultant's Report on the Overall Review of the Companies Ordinance," he said.

The committee was set up in 1984 to advise the Financial Secretary on amendments to the Companies Ordinance and other related legislation as and when experience showed them to be necessary.