The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) today launched a new initiative to warn the public about arrangements which are suspected to be collective investment schemes (CIS) (Note 1).
A CIS may not be offered to the public in Hong Kong without the SFC’s authorisation (Note 2). It may be an offence to offer an unauthorised CIS to the Hong Kong public or to market or distribute interests in CIS without the SFC’s licence or registration.
Investors are urged to be extremely careful if they plan to invest in an unauthorised investment scheme.
Investment arrangements which have come to the SFC’s attention and display certain characteristics of a CIS will be included on a new Suspected Unauthorised CIS Alert List (Note 3). These arrangements may involve overseas real estate or non-conventional assets and investments such as digital tokens and initial coin offerings (ICO).
“Unauthorised investment arrangements are highly risky and investors may lose all their investments,” said Ms Christina Choi, the SFC’s Executive Director of Investment Products. “Investors are urged to check the new alert list and find out whether the arrangement is authorised by the SFC before investing.”
The SFC will continue to work with the Investor and Financial Education Council, an SFC subsidiary, to strengthen investor education about CIS and associated risks (Note 4).
Notes:
- As defined in section 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO).
- CIS offered to the Hong Kong public are subject to SFC authorisation under the SFO, unless exempted. In general, CIS must be sold by an intermediary licensed or registered with the SFC. Unauthorised CIS may generally be sold to professional investors only.
- The alert list is not exhaustive. The fact that an arrangement does not appear on the list should not be taken as an indication that it is, or is not, an SFC-authorised CIS or otherwise safe for investment. A searchable list of investment products authorised by the SFC for public offering, including all SFC-authorised CIS, is available on the SFC’s website.
- For information on CIS, investments in overseas properties, ICO and digital tokens, please follow the links.
