2009/10 was a challenging year for the Land Registry. We were still in the midst of the global economic downturn at the start of the financial year. For an entity whose operation is highly sensitive to economic cycles, the situation could hardly be taken as reassuring. In face of the challenge, we maintained our momentum in introducing new initiatives to improve the quality and efficiency of our service, and to attract more business. We released an enhanced version of the e-Memorial Form in July 2009. Since its introduction, the usage rate of the e-Memorial Form increased by about 50% to account for some 45% of the documents delivered for registration currently. In October 2009, we reduced the application fee and minimum deposit for subscriber accounts for our Integrated Registration Information System (IRIS) Online Services, leading to an increase of almost 9% in the number of subscribers to a record high of 818 by end March 2010.

These initiatives, together with a general recovery in the property market, have led to a remarkable performance for the Land Registry Trading Fund. The turnover for 2009/10 increased by 18.9% to $505.8 million, while profit and total comprehensive income increased by 60.1% to $149.7 million. The Trading Fund recorded a rate of return on fixed assets of around 38.5%, a significant increase of 104.8% from the previous year.

I am equally encouraged by the community's recognition of our commitment to serve and excel. Last year, the Land Registry was awarded the First Runner-up in the Service Enhancement Award (Small Department category) in the Civil Service Outstanding Service Award Scheme 2009, and won the Public Organisation Award of The Ombudsman's Awards 2009. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to our staff members for their dedication and professionalism in the delivery of services to the public.

In keeping with our culture of continuous improvements, I am pleased to share with our customers and partners a number of service enhancements. Besides overshooting all our key performance pledges, earlier this year we introduced a new set of performance pledges for a speedier delivery of services. I would like to take this opportunity to update our readers that we successfully launched a new search service system in August 2010. The new system provides more stable and reliable search services with an extension of service hours from 16 to 20 hours each day. We are also developing an update of our popular e-Memorial Form with user-friendly features such as bulk input and auto-filling up of address by using Property Reference Number. The update would be available for trial use in the first half of 2011.

Another great challenge for the department is the development of a title registration system. Our vibrant property market is currently underpinned by one of the oldest pieces of legislation in the territory. It is no exaggeration to say that the introduction of a title registration system to replace the deed registration system would be a revolutionary change. The process would inevitably be controversial, with plenty of twists and turns.

Indeed, the debate on how best to implement our title registration system continues to this day, six years after the enactment of the Land Titles Ordinance (LTO) in 2004. Last year we completed a public consultation exercise on the proposed modifications to the conversion and rectification mechanisms under the LTO. The exercise was an intellectually taxing one, not least because of the highly complex subjects involved. I am greatly indebted to our stakeholders and other members of the public, who had painstakingly considered the issues involved and offered their invaluable comments. The result of the public consultation has pointed towards the preservation of the “daylight conversion” mechanism and the provision of limited exceptions to the rectification arrangement for fraud cases under the LTO. Concerns were recently raised on the “mandatory rectification” rule in the LTO. Suggestions were made on the adoption of “immediate indefeasibility” instead, and that the cap on indemnity and the bar on indemnity for pre-conversion fraud should be lifted. Divergent views were held by our major stakeholders on these issues. They touched on the core elements enshrined in the LTO and could have far-reaching implications on our land titles system and its implementation timetable.

Notwithstanding the divergence in views held by stakeholders, we believe that there maintains an aspiration in the community for the early implementation of the title registration system. We will strive to resolve the issues concerned together with our stakeholders, with a view to identifying the best way forward.

The land titles exercise, albeit a difficult one, underlines the importance and value we attach to partnership and collaboration. I would therefore like to end this note by thanking our partners and customers for all their support, comments and advice over the past year. We look forward to your continued support in the years to come.