Carlson Tong: Recipient of the 2022 ICAEW Outstanding Achievement Award

The 43rd annual ICAEW Outstanding Achievement Award for 2022 is conferred on;

Carlson Tong

in recognition of his outstanding achievements and contributions to business and the accounting profession, the financial markets, and the community in Hong Kong SAR.

Carlson’s involvement with a large number of community and industry bodies reflects his desire to give back to a city that has given him so much throughout his career. He is currently the Chairman of the University Grants Committee, Chairman of the Independent Commission on Remuneration for Members of the Executive Council and the Legislature and Officials under the Political Appointment System of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“HKSAR”), a member of the Hong Kong Human Resources Planning Commission and a member of the Greater China Advisory Committee of the ICAEW. He was awarded the Golden Bauhinia Star and appointed as a Justice of the Peace by the Government of HKSAR and is an Honorary Fellow of the Lingnan University, the Education University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Academy of Finance and the Hong Kong Securities and Investment Institute respectively. 

He was previously Chairman of the English Schools Foundation (2011-2015), Chairman of the Hong Kong Sports Institute (2012-2017), Honorary Treasurer (2001-2003) and Vice Chairman (2003-2007) of Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra Limited, a board member of the Airport Authority Hong Kong (2017-2020), a member of the Exchange Fund Advisory Committee (2011- 2019) , a member of the Banking Advisory Committee of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (2011-2019) and a member of the Financial Services Professional Board, Malaysia (2014-2016). 

Born in Hong Kong, Carlson began his career with a local firm of Chartered Accountants in Cardiff in 1974 and, after qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, joined KPMG in Cardiff in 1979. He returned to Hong Kong in 1985 and was made a partner in 1989. He became KPMG's China Chairman in 2007 and Asia-Pacific Chairman in 2009. He retired from KPMG in 2011 after 32 years.

Whilst with KPMG, Carlson worked with a leading state-owned conglomerate in mainland China to restructure its business in the early 1990s which led to its flotation on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the first mainland Chinese company to do so. This landmark transaction laid the foundations for Hong Kong to eventually become a ‘super-connector’ between mainland China and the rest of the world.

Carlson was a Council Member of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants from 2001 to 2008 and its Vice President in 2006. Building on his contribution to business and the profession, in October 2012, shortly after retiring from KPMG, he was appointed Chairman of the Securities and Futures Commission (“SFC”) in 2012 and retired in 2018. Even before this appointment, Carlson had been actively involved in the regulatory work of the securities and futures markets. He served as a member of the Main Board and Growth Enterprise Market Listing Committee of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited from 2002 to 2006 and was its Chairman from 2006 to 2008. At the SFC, he was a member of the Takeovers and Mergers Panel from 2001 to 2009 and a member of the Dual Filing Advisory Group from 2002 to 2008. Carlson has also chaired the Investment Committee and Advisory Committee and sat on the Nominations Committee, Remuneration Committee and SFC (HKEC Listing) Appeals Committee.

Carlson joined Standard Chartered PLC as an independent non-executive director in February 2019 and was appointed to the Court of Standard Chartered Bank in April 2019 and a HKSAR Government designated observer on the board of Cathay Pacific Airways Limited in 2020.

This award by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales acknowledges Carlson’s outstanding achievements and contribution to business, the community and the profession in Hong Kong SAR.