Hong Kong's Securities And Futures Commission Bans Mak Shu Pan For Three Years

The disciplinary action follows an SFC investigation which found that Mak had allowed a woman to open and operate an account at BOCOM International Securities Limited in her mother’s name. Mak had never met and conducted know-your-client procedures with the mother, who was the account holder, but falsely declared in the account opening forms that he had witnessed her signature and explained the contents of the risk disclosure statement to her. The account holder had not authorized any third party, including her daughter, to operate her account.  

The SFC also found that Mak had conducted transactions in the account on a discretionary basis in reliance upon the daughter’s acquiescence, but without the authorization of the account holder. 

The SFC considers that Mak’s conduct called into question his fitness and properness to be a licensed person. In deciding the penalty, the SFC took into account all relevant circumstances, including that:

• Mak had abused the trust his employer placed in him by falsely representing to his employer that he had witnessed the signature of the account holder and explained the risk disclosure statement to her;
• Mak’s actions seriously jeopardised the account holder’s interests and resulted in financial loss of around $1 million to her;
• As compensation, Mak has paid the account holder $100,000 and has entered into an agreement to pay a further sum of $1,000,000; and
• Mak has an otherwise clean disciplinary record.

Notes:

1. Mak was licensed as a representative under the Securities and Futures Ordinance to carry on Type 1 (dealing in securities) and Type 2 (dealing in futures contracts) regulated activities and was accredited to BOCOM International Securities Limited between 14 January 2008 and 8 June 2012. He is currently not a licensed person.
2. A copy of the Statement of Disciplinary Action in relation to the matter is available on the SFC website.