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 Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has suspended the licence of Mr Tang Wai Choi, a former licensed representative of Shanxi Securities International Limited (SSIL), for seven months from 28 October 2025 to 27 May 2026 (Note 1). As part of an investigation into a suspected ramp-and-dump scheme, the SFC found that between 10 July 2019 and 10 December 2019, Tang, unbeknownst to SSIL, had logged into a client’s securities account and placed 945 orders for the client via

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has prohibited Mr Cheng Lai Ho, a former relevant individual of Bank of Communications Co., Ltd. and Bank of Communications (Hong Kong) Limited (collectively, BOCOM), from re-entering the industry for seven months from 27 October 2025 to 26 May 2026 (Note 1). The disciplinary action follows an SFC investigation which found that, between April 2017 and April 2022, Cheng failed to disclose to BOCOM the existence of multiple personal s

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (Exchange) have collaborated in an enforcement action that led to a disciplinary action against Mr Lu Qingxing, former non-executive director, and his son, Mr Lyu Zhufeng, former executive director, of Universal Star (Holdings) Limited (Universal Star) for their failure to procure the disclosure of material information in the company’s prospectus (Notes 1 to 3). The outcome stemmed from th

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) showed its support to the market’s initiatives in a seminar organised by the Association of Fund Administrators of Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area (AFA) last week for raising industry awareness of regulatory compliance standards in the fast-evolving digital asset sector (Note 1). Dr Eric Yip, the SFC’s Executive Director of Intermediaries, delivered a keynote speech at the seminar comprising over 150 participants, including fund

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has reprimanded and fined UBS AG (UBS) $8 million for deficiencies in its internal systems and controls, resulting in the firm’s failure to ensure accurate classification of professional investors (PIs) for over 12 years (Note 1). The SFC’s investigation revealed that, between 2009 and July 2022 (Relevant Period), UBS verified its clients’ PI status by an automated process which was based upon the firm’s misinterpretation of the min