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The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has suspended Mr Lam Ka Wo for three years from 18 May 2013 to 17 May 2016 (Note 1).
The disciplinary action follows an SFC investigation in which the SFC found that, during the period from September to November 2009, Lam had:
(a) permitted a third party, without proper authorization, to:
(i) open and operate a customer account at UOB Kay Hian (Hong Kong) Limited (UOB) in the name of another person; and
(ii) transfer securities from that account at UOB to the customer’s account at another brokerage firm;
(b) failed to take steps to identify and keep records of the person who was ultimately responsible for the account, and who ultimately benefited from the transactions operated through that account; and
(c) provided false and misleading information to UOB in the client’s account opening documents.
The SFC considers that Lam’s conduct demonstrates a serious lack of honesty and integrity and calls into question his fitness and properness to be a licensed person. In determining the penalty, the SFC took into account that:
- Lam’s conduct was seriously dishonest;
- the transactions operated through the account did not cause any loss to the concerned customer in this case; however, apart from being dishonest, misconduct of this kind could inflict substantial loss on innocent customers, and could enable dishonest market players using the securities account of another person to conduct fraudulent or other inappropriate activities;
- a clear message needs to be sent to the market that misconduct similar to Lam’s will not be tolerated and might result in a suspension of licence; and
- Lam has no previous disciplinary record.
Notes:
- Lam is 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 UOB Kay Hian (Hong Kong) Limited and UOB Kay Hian Futures (Hong Kong) Limited during the period from 23 August 2004 to 28 March 2013. He is currently not accredited to any licensed corporation.
- A copy of the Statement of Disciplinary Action in relation to the matter is available on the SFC website.
