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The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) today published its Quarterly Report summarising key developments from July to September 2014.
Among the regulatory highlights during the quarter, the SFC reaffirmed initial public offering (IPO) sponsors’ statutory civil and criminal liability for defective prospectuses and introduced greater flexibility for real estate investment trusts to invest in property development activities and financial instruments. The SFC also concluded consultations on proposed amendments to the professional investor regime and began a further consultation on client agreement requirements under the Code of Conduct (Note 1).
As part of ongoing initiatives to improve corporate behaviour in general, the SFC published the first issue of its Corporate Regulation Newsletter to inform market participants about disclosures by listing applicants and listed companies. In addition, the SFC held its first supervisory briefing for market intermediaries where key findings noted from the SFC’s recent inspections of a number of large international licensed firms were shared.
On enforcement, the SFC disciplined two licensed corporations for their serious internal control deficiencies, misappropriation of client assets and provision of false or misleading information to the SFC. Six individuals were also prosecuted.
The report is available on the SFC website under "Published resources> Corporate publications> Quarterly reports".
Notes:
- This refers to the Code of Conduct for Persons Licensed by or Registered with the Securities and Futures Commission.
