Hong Kong's Securities And Futures Commission Issues First-Quarter Report

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) today published its Quarterly Report summarising key developments from April to June 2014.

Among the highlights during the quarter, the Securities and Futures (Amendment) Ordinance 2014, gazetted in April, established a framework for the regulation of the over-the-counter derivatives market, and an SFC circular set out guidance on robust internal product approval and design processes for investment products. To encourage more meaningful disclosure, the SFC also requested listed companies to provide specific numbers in their profit alerts and warnings wherever possible.

In April, the SFC and the China Securities Regulatory Commission announced the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect pilot scheme, which will allow Hong Kong and Mainland investors to directly participate in each other’s securities markets (Note 1).

On enforcement, the SFC:

• successfully prosecuted 10 individuals or corporations for market misconduct and disciplined 17 licensees, with fines totalling over $39 million;
• reprimanded ICBC International Capital Limited and ICBC International Securities Limited and fined them a total of $25 million regarding their role in an initial public offering (Note 2); and
• obtained a court judgment which ordered Ernst & Young Hong Kong to produce to the SFC specified accounting records (Note 3).

The report is available on the SFC website under "Published resources> Corporate publications> Quarterly reports".

End

Notes:

1. For details, please see the SFC’s press release dated 10 April 2014.
2. For details, please see the SFC’s press release dated 21 May 2014.
3. For details, please see the SFC’s press release dated 23 May 2014.