Hong Kong's Securities And Futures Commission: Court Of Final Appeal To Hear Moody’s Case

The Court of Final Appeal today granted leave to Moody’s Investors Service Hong Kong Limited’s (Moody’s) to take the case to the Court of Final Appeal in the matter of the Securities and Futures Commission’s (SFC) disciplinary action in relation to a special comment report it published in 2011 (the Report) (Note 1).

The issue for the Court of Final Appeal to determine is whether the publication of a report having features such as those contained in the Report constitutes “misconduct” within the definition of section 193 of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO) (Note 2).

The date for the hearing has yet to be fixed.

Notes:

1. Please see SFC’s press releases dated 5 April 2016, 8 June and 17 October 2017.
2. Under section 193 of the SFO, “misconduct” means, among other things, an act or omission relating to the carrying on of any regulated activity for which a person is licensed or registered which, in the opinion of the Commission, is or is likely to be prejudicial to the interest of the investing public or to the public interest.