Partners from Clifford Chance (CC) and Davis Polk & Wardwell are among the newly appointed membership team at Hong Kong's Financial Services Development Council (FSDC), tasked with promoting the city's financial industry for the next two years.

Mark Shipman, CC's head of global funds and investment, and Bonnie Chan, a Davis Polk capital markets partner, are part of a 22-member group, which also includes bankers and directors who will represent a cross-section of the local finance sector.

Chan is one of seven who are new to the council following a number of retirements, while Shipman has been on the committee since 2013 when the FSDC was first set up.

Other lawyers on the team include Professor Douglas Arner from the Faculty of Law at the University of Hong Kong, and speaker at Legal Week's Hong Kong Corporate Counsel Forum, and Laurence Li Lu-jen, a barrister at local set Temple Chambers.

Laura Cha, non-executive deputy chairman of HSBC, has been re-elected as chairman.

The Financial Services Development Council was set up in 2013 by the city's chief executive CY Leung with the hope of promoting the former British colony as a financial hub for Asia.

It has since attracted some criticism, but promised to provide a voice to for the industry, bring in new business opportunities and strengthen Hong Kong's ties with mainland China.

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