The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has banned Ms Luo Jianglan from re-entering the industry for six months from 10 March 2015 to 9 September 2015 (Note 1).
The SFC found that on 22 August 2013, Luo, who was an associate of her employer’s Client Facilitation Desk, created a short sell order of 300,000 shares in China Resources Land Limited (CRL Order) and released part of the order to the market without ensuring a relevant stock borrow arrangement in place as required by her employer’s procedures for ensuring compliance with short selling regulations (Note 2).
Luo did not report her breach in respect of the CRL Order to her employer but took various steps to conceal it, including falsely represented to the compliance department that she had arranged prior internal stock transfer to cover the short position.
The SFC considers Luo’s conduct called into question her fitness and properness to be a licensed person. Luo’s failure to adhere to her employer’s short selling procedures and the steps she took to cover up the error from her employer are not acceptable.
Notes:
- Luo was licensed under the Securities and Futures Ordinance to carry on Type 1 (dealing in securities), Type 2 (dealing in futures contracts), Type 4 (advising on securities) and Type 5 (advising on futures contracts) regulated activities. Between August 2012 and August 2013, she was accredited to J.P. Morgan Securities (Far East) Limited and J.P. Morgan Broking (Hong Kong) Limited, for carrying on Types 1, 2, 4 and 5 regulated activities. She was also registered as a relevant individual of J.P. Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Limited for carrying on Types 1 and 4 regulated activities. She is currently not licensed by the SFC.
- At the time when Luo created the CRL Order, J.P. Morgan as a group held sufficient CRL shares to cover the order.
A copy of the Statement of Disciplinary Action is available on the SFC website