Hang Seng is a community bank serving more than one-third of Hong Kong people but we also have to face business reality, including responsibilities to our shareholders. As you can appreciate, it's not easy to strike the right balance, and we are trying hard to minimise the implications of these changes to customers.

We are well aware that customers have - and should be given - choices. We are conscious of the fact that customers are free to choose their banker and the nature of banking relationships. We are also aware that customers have their own different requirements of return for deposits and banking convenience. As such, we are providing different service packages to meet the diverse needs of different customers.

As a bank committed to providing premium services, Hang Seng values each and every customer, and treasures each and every encounter. But just as we are committed to our customers, we hope customers are willing to deepen relationships with us.

What we are announcing today are measures to develop and strengthen relationships with customers, to encourage them to look to us for all their banking needs, and to reward them for total banking relationships.

Despite the difficult banking environment, Hang Seng as a community bank has decided that all our 2 million-plus savings accounts will be exempted from the fee we announce today.

I cannot emphasise enough that the decision of exempting all existing accounts wasn't an easy one. In the end, we decided social responsibility and customer loyalty should carry due weight vis-a-vis commercial considerations.

To uphold our social responsibility, we have also decided not to impose these fees on new customers who are senior citizens or recipients of government disability allowance. To encourage minors to develop the virtue of saving money, they will be exempted. Tertiary students with a Bank-In-One Account will also be exempted until their graduation.

As an incentive for total banking relationships, customers with mortgages, overdrafts, loans, investment funds, monthly investment plans, securities, life insurance and time deposits as well as integrated account customers will also get exemptions.

Now may I call upon Mr W K Mok, Managing Director and General Manager with overall responsibility for personal banking, to provide you with more details.