The Hong Kong Government has appointed its first Hong Kong Chinese lawyer as the new chief public prosecutor for the region, to start from September.

Senior barrister Keith Yeung Kar-hung takes over from Kevin Zervos, an Australian lawyer, who has held the position for more than two years.

Yeung is a commercial litigator, with over two decades of experience in the legal profession and specialist knowledge of criminal and civil law, especially commercial crime and securities matters.

He has been actively involved in the development of Hong Kong's legal community, working as vice-chairman of the Bar Association and in other public roles.

He was chosen for the position following a promotion-cum-open recruitment exercise conducted by the Department of Justice in November 2012, with a selection process that took six months.

He will assume the position on September 9, with the responsibility of directing public prosecutions, as well consulting on the implementation of the local criminal law and the development of enforcement procedures in Hong Kong.

Incumbent Zervos is a specialist in human rights and in the prosecution of white-collar crime, and was appointed Hong Kong's director of public prosecutions in March 2011.

He had previously worked in Australia in the Special Prosecutor's Office responsible for the investigation and prosecution of large-scale revenue frauds, and then as Senior Assistant Director of the office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions in the Melbourne and Sydney Offices, where he was in charge of the Major Fraud Section.

From 1989 to 1992, he was General Counsel to the Independent Commission Against Corruption in New South Wales before moving to Hong Kong. Media reports say he is widely expected to be appointed a High Court judge.