Millionaires get helping hand in love stakes

'This one works for a property developer and he makes over a million a year,' Chan says. In the picture is a clean-cut Chinese man in his 30s with his arm around a young Chinese woman. Chan declines to provide his name, saying he'd rather remain anonymous, like many of her clients.

'This one works for a property developer and he makes over a million a year,' Chan says. In the picture is a clean-cut Chinese man in his 30s with his arm around a young Chinese woman. Chan declines to provide his name, saying he'd rather remain anonymous, like many of her clients.

The next dinner will be at the Ritz-Carlton on Saturday, with an architect, CEO, banker, perfume shop owner, doctor and pianist on the guest list. 'People using dating services are not all fat, bald and ugly anymore,' says Chan of airbrushed glamour shots of female participants.

Millionaires are on the rise in Hong Kong, with the number making up 33 per cent of high-net-worth individuals in Asia last year, according to the 2011 World Wealth Report by Capgemini and Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management.

The report defines high-net-worth individuals as those with at least US$1 million in financial assets, excluding collectibles, goods and primary residences.

In 2010, there were reportedly 101,000 such people in Hong Kong, up from 76,000 the previous year.

Chan's definition is broader, classifying those with an annual income of more than HK$1 million, or US$129,000, as millionaires.

Men taking part in such dinners literally have to prove their worth, as Chan asks them to show proof of income through payroll slips, property deeds and bank statements.

Sometimes she waives this requirement if she has known a particular client for a while. One such exception is a Singaporean business analyst for a listed Chinese shipping and logistics company who asked only to be identified as Mr Ng. The 36-year-old has attended Chan's events for several years, with the last being a dinner on Christmas Eve.

'It increases my chances. I meet people all the time, but most people are in my area of work,' Ng said. 'This gives me a chance to meet people from all walks of life.'

The National University of Singapore graduate has yet to find his ideal match - a pretty, Western-educated woman who he can talk to.

While Chan has introduced him to several who meet the criteria, Ng says he has occasionally turned down women, including one 14 years his junior because she was too young. 'I tell him not to be so picky,' Chan says.

Interested people can sign up for dinner with a millionaire, paying the HK$3,800 fee to get a personal interview with the matchmaking agency.

'It's a bit like going to see the Chinese medicine doctor,' says Cheryl Lam, one of Chan's business partners. 'We'll ask applicants questions about their preferences, watch their habits.

'There was this client one time who kept organising the mess on Rachael's desk. He didn't even know he was doing it. We set him up with a secretary who's very organised and he was quite happy about that.'

After the interview, the agency cross-references the applicant's results with a database of 30,000 clients listing their interests, weight, nationality, education level and so on.

But Chan's matchmaking style has rubbed some clients - and rival firms - the wrong way.

'I don't want to categorise the people I meet,' said Christine, a 33-year-old Chinese-Australian banker.

'I find it quite condescending ... specifying an age range [like] 20 to 28, or saying an event is free if you're a doctor ... It automatically assumes people want to date just a certain kind of man,' she said. 'I'm very close to asking them to take me off their mailing list.'

Willie Booker, author of a book on Hong Kong's dating scene, also says HK Speed Dating's model encourages the playboy behaviour of the city's wealthy and well-educated men, while alienating professional women.

Booker wants to establish a matchmaking agency to address this problem, targeting the needs of single professional women.

'They're the ones who really need the help. There are, I think, 20 per cent more women of marriageable age in Hong Kong than men,' Booker says.

But Chan shrugs off the charge, saying men won't come if they invite women older than 28. 'For women over 30, we can organise a private matching service,' she says.

As for the threat of competition, the matchmaker says: 'Maybe we can be partners.'

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