Mr Lau was appointed the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury on 1 July 2017.

Mr Lau joined the Hong Kong Government as an Administrative Officer (AO) in 1979 and was promoted through the ranks to AO Staff Grade C in April 1988. He joined the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) in April 1993 and was the Head and Executive Director of various divisions of the HKMA until 2004.

In July 2004, Mr Lau was seconded to the Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation as Chief Executive Officer until he retired in December 2012. Mr Lau was appointed Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury in January 2014.

Mr Lau holds a Bachelor of Mathematics (Computer Science and Statistics) Honours Degree and a Master of Mathematics Degree in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo, Canada.