The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has issued restriction notices to Futu Securities International (Hong Kong) Limited (Futu) and Soochow Securities International Brokerage Limited (Soochow), prohibiting them from dealing with, or processing any withdrawals or transfers of, assets held in the accounts ultimately owned by a board member of a listed corporation who is suspected of committing misconduct and breaching his duties towards the listed corporation (Notes 1 an

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued a  circular  today to urge licensed corporations and virtual asset trading platforms (collectively known as “licensed firms”) to stay vigilant against suspicious fund flows showing signs of layering activities in money laundering. In the circular, the SFC highlights a rising trend in which bad actors exploit licensed firms for layering activities, with some attempting to launder illicit proceeds from deception and scam cases,

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) today announced new enhancements to the Cross-boundary Wealth Management Connect Pilot Scheme (Cross-boundary WMC) to foster closer communication between participating licensed corporations (Participating LCs) and their clients under the scheme (Note 1).          The SFC has set out in a circular the implementation details of the enhancements for client interaction, with key arrangements including: Participating LCs can now obtain

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has reprimanded and fined Tung Tai Securities Company Limited (Tung Tai) HK$900,000 for failures relating to unauthorised sales of client securities and transfers of client funds (Note 1). The SFC’s investigation found that between 6 September 2019 and 18 February 2020, Tung Tai, acting on instructions from a bogus email address similar to that of an overseas client, sold shares in the client’s account and transferred the sale proce

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 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