On the morning of March 21st, Mr. Stephen Green, Chairman of HSBC Holding PLC, was conferred as the Honorary President of Peking University, who later delivered a speech entitled “Reflection on the Global Economic Crisis” at the Lecture Hall of PKU Library. The ceremony was attended by Mrs. Green, Mr. Richard Yorke, chief executive of HSBC (China), Mr. Ding Guoliang, President of the Beijing Branch of HSBC Bank (China) Company Limited, PKU President Mr. Zhou Qifeng, Executive Vice President Mr. Lin Jianhua and Vice President Mr. Hai Wen. also presided over the Ceremony and the speech.

 President Zhou first thanked Mr. Green and HSBC Group for their enormous support to the University and made an official announcement of Mr. Stephen Green as the honorary president of PKU. He pointed out that HSBC and PKU have played an important role respectively in the fields of economy and education, and the University very appreciated HSBC’s continuous support. President Zhou welcomed Mr. Green on behalf of the University and expressed his wish to work with HSBC to strengthen the construction of the Business School and make greater contributions to education and economy. 

 Zhou Qifeng, president of PKU offer souvenirsto Mr. Stephen Green

 
After receiving the honor conferred by President Zhou, Mr Green began his speech with warm applause from the audience. He started from the operation principles of the banking system, analyzed the root cause of current global economic crisis, traced the changes of global economy in the past 30 years, highlighted the importance of the banking system in dealing with the crisis and expressed his confidence in the economy of China. The speech was warmly welcomed and after that many questions were put forward from students.At the end of the ceremony, President Zhou presented a souvenir to Mr. Green and thanked him for the wonderful speech.

  Stephen Green graduated from Oxford and received a master's degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He now acted as the Chairman of HSBC Group, Chairman of HSBC Private Banking Holdings (Suisse) SA and HSBC North America Holdings Inc. Meanwhile, he was the Chairman of British Bankers Association as well as a Trustee of the British Museum.

So far, Mr. Green has worked in HSBC for 26 years and was honored as “Bank clerk who creates the myth”. HSBC, the largest foreign investment bank in the Mainland, has always insisted on providing services to the development of Mainland. Meanwhile, HSBC Group is dedicated to solving China’s educational and environmental issues. With Mr.Green’s efforts, HSBC has donated RMB 150 million to Peking University in Aug 2008 for the development of PHSB and PHSB Financial Institute.