The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has banned Mr Paul Wan Kai Leung, former responsible officer, manager-in-charge, and director of Nerico Brothers Limited (NBL), from re-entering the industry for life (Note 1). The disciplinary action is related to the SFC’s earlier sanctions against NBL and its director, Jerff Lee Cheuk Fung, for misuse of client assets, facilitation of the misappropriation of client assets, and provision of false or misleading information to the S

The Eastern Magistrates’ Court today convicted well-known movie producer Mr Wong Pak Ming of insider dealing in the shares of Pegasus Entertainment Holdings Limited (Pegasus) in a criminal prosecution brought by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) (Note 1). The conviction, after a 16-day criminal trial, arises from Wong’s deliberate misuse of inside information acquired through his role as chairman and controlling shareholder of Pegasus and his decision to advise his

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) today issued a circular setting out the expected controls for account opening and maintenance of client relationships. The circular follows the SFC’s review of the account opening practices of 12 securities brokers. The review identified significant deficiencies, including inadequate due diligence on account opening documentation, the acceptance of questionable or forged documents during the account opening process, and weaknesses i

The EU’s new anti-money laundering authority is facing pressure to settle a growing compliance question: can group companies share AML-relevant information without breaching GDPR? The short answer emerging from the debate is yes, because EU AML law is designed to require meaningful information exchange inside corporate groups, while privacy rules still apply through safeguards such as necessity, proportionality and purpose limitation. The issue matters for banks, payment firm

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has opened fewer enforcement cases in the first half of fiscal year 2026 than at any comparable point in at least 16 years, according to independent empirical analyses of the agency’s docket. The slowdown follows a broader retreat in SEC enforcement that began in late FY 2025 and reflects a self‑described “recentering” of the regulator’s priorities under new leadership. Scale of the decline A Brattle‑led analysis of SEC enforc

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reached a landmark settlement in a high‑profile civil securities fraud case involving Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and his Adani Group, marking a critical juncture in a years‑long transnational bribery probe. The case, which centered on allegations of fraud, bribery, and misrepresentations tied to U.S. bond offerings and government‑related energy contracts in India, has now been resolved through a consent‑based agreemen

AUSTRAC has ordered Bankstown District Sports Club Ltd to appoint an external auditor amid concerns its anti-money‑laundering (AML) controls may not be strong enough to stop organised crime exploiting poker machines and gambling venues. AUSTRAC Acting CEO Katie Miller said clubs and pubs sit on the frontline of Australia’s fight against money laundering, particularly where large volumes of cash and poker machines are involved. “Poker machines can be exploited by criminals

UK financial firms can adopt tokenisation and distributed ledger technology (DLT) with greater confidence, as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England set out a shared vision and seek industry views on the future of UK wholesale markets. Tokenisation is the process of creating a digital representation of a real-world asset – such as a share, bond or unit of currency – on a digital ledger. It has the potential to streamline wholesale markets, making everyt