The Tribunal agreed with the FCA that significant fines should be imposed, deciding that fines of £4m, £352,000 and £14,200 were appropriate for Rangecourt SA, Mr Rowland and Mr Bolelyy respectively. The Tribunal also upheld the FCA’s decision to ban Mr Rowland and Mr Bolelyy from working in financial services. Banque Havilland created a plan (initially titled ‘Setting fire to the neighbour’s house fund’) to harm the Qatari Riyal through manipulative trading strategies. The a

AUSTRAC has released its anti-money laundering program starter kits (kits), designed specifically to help small businesses in newly regulated sectors to meet their compliance obligations and manage ML/TF risks, while also reducing the time and cost of compliance. From 1 July, businesses providing certain designated services commonly provided by lawyers, accountants, real estate agents, conveyancers and jewellers will have obligations under the AML/CTF Act. The kits set ou

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) wishes to alert members of the public to the press releases issued by the banks listed below relating to fraudulent websites, internet banking login screens, phishing emails or other scams, which have been reported to the HKMA. Hyperlinks to the press releases are available on the HKMA website . Bank Type of Scam The Bank of East Asia, Limited Fraudulent website and internet banking login screen Shanghai Commercial Bank Limited Fraudul

Hong Kong Customs yesterday (February 3) detected a case involving a local company that conducted transactions of jewellery valued at over HK$120,000, without registration under the Dealers in Precious Metals and Stones Regulatory Regime. The owner of the company was arrested. The investigation is ongoing. The arrested person has been released on bail. According to the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (Cap. 615), unless exempted, any person who

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) today set forth in a circular highly concerning issues related to serious deficiencies in the preparation of some listing documents, sponsors’ potential misconduct and significant mismanagement of resources amidst a surge in new listing applications in 2025 (Note 1). In reviewing recent listing applications, the SFC and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (SEHK) identified a number of serious deficiencies in the preparation o

In an era where Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Web3 technologies are deeply integrating, financial professionals are facing unprecedented regulatory challenges. On January 26, 2026, Aaron, Director of Corporate Advisory at Prudent , was invited as a guest speaker for the "AI Asset Manager Workshop (CPT Certified)" hosted by the Hong Kong Securities & Futures Professionals Association (HKSFPA) . During the session, Aaron shared the latest regulatory pulses in the Virtual As

AUSTRAC has ordered the appointment of an external auditor to assess whether payment platform, Airwallex Designated Business Group (Airwallex DBG), is meeting its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) obligations, following concerns about potential non-compliance. AUSTRAC Chief Executive Officer, Brendan Thomas, said external audits are a critical regulatory tool to assess serious compliance concerns and to protect the financial system from criminal

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) today issued a joint consultation on standardising the calculation periods (Note 1) for each year under the Clearing Rules (Note 2) for the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives regulatory regime. Under the current approach that requires the central clearing of OTC derivative transactions, the existing list of calculation periods specified in the Clearing Rules needs to be updated regularly.

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has suspended Ms Choi Sau Wai, a former licensed representative of Glory Sun Securities Limited (GSSL), for seven months from 23 January 2026 to 22 August 2026 (Note 1). As part of an investigation into a suspected ramp-and-dump scheme, the SFC found that, between October 2019 and January 2022, Choi knowingly allowed and facilitated an account executive of another brokerage firm (AE) to operate and carry out personal trades in a cli