The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced today that with effect from 1 February 2017, all individual applicants and licensees will be required to submit their licensing applications, notifications and annual returns via the SFC Online Portal, with the view of improving the efficiency of processing licensing-related matters.
This will not apply to corporate applicants and intermediaries who may continue to submit their applications, notifications and annual returns either in the paper form or via the SFC Online Portal (Note 1).
The SFC will introduce new forms and a transition period to facilitate the implementation of this initiative (Notes 2 & 3).
Notes:
- For an individual applicant whose application is a necessary component of a corporate application (such as an application by a proposed responsible officer of a corporate applicant for a new licence), the application may be submitted together with the corporate application in paper form.
- New forms on the SFC Online Portal for individual applicants and licensees will be available on 2 December 2016, while new paper forms for corporate applicants and intermediaries will be ready on 1 February 2017.
- From 2 December 2016 to 31 January 2017, individual applicants and licensees can submit their applications, notifications and annual returns using the existing paper forms or the new forms on the SFC Online Portal.
- The SFC today issued a circular to notify the industry of mandatory online submission of individual licensing applications, notifications and annual returns.
