The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has banned Mr Cheung Ngai Yi, a former relevant individual of Hang Seng Bank, Limited (HSB), from re-entering the industry for life following his criminal conviction for stealing client assets (Note 1). Cheung was sentenced by the District Court on 31 March 2025 to 30 months’ imprisonment after his theft conviction (Note 2). The Court found that Cheung, who was then an account manager for a client of HSB, had misappropriated a total

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) today commenced criminal proceedings at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts against Mr Chan Hoi Shing and Mr Li Po Ching for employing a fraudulent scheme involving illegal short selling in the shares of 28 Hong Kong-listed companies, in contravention of section 300 of the Securities and Futures Ordinance. The SFC alleges that, between 27 May 2020 and 29 December 2020, Chan and Li falsely represented that Chan held sufficient shares of

The Eastern Magistrates’ Court today convicted Mr Chau Pak Yin, a finfluencer and previously known as Chau Kin Hei, for providing investment advice on a subscription-based chat group on Telegram he hosted without a licence in a criminal prosecution by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) (Notes 1 to 5). Chau was sentenced to six weeks’ imprisonment. He was also ordered to pay the SFC’s investigation costs. The Court heard that between 16 April 2021 and 14 May 2021, Cha

The SFC issues this circular to broaden the range of products and services that can be offered by SFC-licensed virtual asset trading platforms 1 (“ VATPs ”), as part of its initiatives to foster the continued healthy development of Hong Kong’s digital asset ecosystem. Background Under Pillar P ( P roducts) of the SFC’s ASPIRe Roadmap published on 19 February 2025 2 , the SFC envisages to review the range of digital asset products and services available in Hong Kong’s regul

The Government published in the Gazette today (September 5) the Banking (Amendment) Ordinance 2025 (Commencement) Notice to appoint November 3 as the commencement date for the Banking (Amendment) Ordinance 2025 (23 of 2025) (the Ordinance) to come into operation. The Ordinance was gazetted on June 13. The Ordinance introduces a voluntary mechanism for banks and relevant law enforcement agencies to share with each other, swiftly and safely via electronic means, informatio

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) is seeking disqualification orders from the Court of First Instance against three former directors of China Longevity Group Company Limited (China Longevity), formerly known as Sijia Group Company Limited, in legal proceedings under section 214 of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO) (Notes 1 and 2). The three former directors of China Longevity named in the proceedings are Mr Lin Shengxiong, former Chairman and Executive Dir

Hong Kong Customs mounted a special enforcement operation on October 20 and detected a case involving the sale of suspected counterfeit footwear products and money laundering by an online shop. A total of about 1 100 items of suspected counterfeit goods, including footwear and clothing, with a total estimated market value of about $2 million, were seized. The suspected crime proceeds generated from the sale of suspected counterfeit goods involved in the case amounted to $13 m

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) today (28 October) published the “e-HKD Pilot Programme Phase 2 Report” (the report), which presents the key findings and learnings from 11 groups of industry pilots under Phase 2 of the e-HKD Pilot Programme (Phase 2). The report also sets out the HKMA’s latest policy stance regarding the e-HKD. Since 2017, the HKMA has begun explorative work on a central bank digital currency (CBDC), i.e. an e-HKD, using distributed ledger technology