Joseph Yam graduated from the University of Hong Kong in economics, social sciences and statistics with first class honors in 1970.

Yam served as Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority for 16 years, from its inauguration on 1 April 1993 until 30 September 2009.

The move was initially criticised by, amongst others, Alan Greenspan, who voiced concern in September 1998 that the strategy would fail and erode the credibility of the HKMA.

[11] In 2007, Yam was the highest paid central banker in the world, with an annual salary of US$1.32 million, about seven times that of the Chairman of the Federal Reserve ($191,300).,[12] and approximately three times that of the President of the European Central Bank (EUR 351,816 in 2008), the Governor of the Bank of England (GBP 290,000 in 2008) and the Governor of the Bank of Japan ($370,000 in 2007)[13] In 2008, Yam was summoned by a subcommittee of Legislative Council of Hong Kong in a hearing regarding issues arising from Lehman Brothers-related Minibonds and structured financial products[14] Noticing the pricing differential between shares listed on both the local market (H-shares) and the Shanghai Stock Exchange (A-shares), Yam pushed for mechanisms to promote greater convergence and arbitrage.

Ignoring major obstacles pointed out by local brokers, he is credited with persuading the Government to take a 5.9% stake in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as leverage, and then pushing the program[15] which allowed mainland individuals to buy Hong Kong securities directly by opening foreign-currency accounts at the Bank of China branch in northern Tianjin.

The scheme was announced by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on 20 August 2007,[16][17] but stalled at the starting gate, when Beijing refused to grant permission.

[20] After retiring from his role as the chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in September 2009, Joseph Yam took up a number of appointments.

He served the Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation Limited in the position of a deputy chairman and director[5] and as a member of the advisory council at Central Bank of United Arab Emirates.

[1] In 2001, Yam was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Business Administration by the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK).

[22] In November 2009, Yam was awarded Doctor of Business Administration honoris causa by the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology.