Securities And Futures Commission Suspends Tai Nga Chun For Operating Secret Account

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has suspended Ms Tai Nga Chun for eight months from 10 July 2015 to 9 March 2016 (Note 1).

The disciplinary action follows an SFC investigation which found that from January to June 2013, Tai operated a secret account and conducted 85 personal trading activities through the account, in breach of her employer’s internal control policies (Note 2).

The SFC considers Tai’s conduct was dishonest and made it impossible for her employer to identify and monitor her trading activities, without which licensed corporations would not be able to detect potential malpractices arising from staff trading.

The SFC has looked into the trading in Tai’s account and found no sign of any other misconduct.

The SFC reduced the period of suspension taking into account that Tai has expressed remorse for her misconduct.

Licensed persons are required to follow the employee dealing procedures implemented by their employers in accordance with the Code of Conduct, because such controls are not purely internal to their employers but constitute an integral part of the regulatory system, as they seek to ensure integrity in the manner in which employees conduct personal trading (Note 3).

Notes:

1. Tai is licensed as a representative under the Securities and Futures Ordinance to carry on Type 6 (advising on corporate finance) regulated activities and was accredited to Kingston Corporate Finance Limited from 13 May 2013 to 10 July 2013.
2. At the material time, Tai was employed by Kingston Corporate Finance Limited and she breached Kingston’s internal control policies with regard to employee dealings.
3. See paragraph 12.2 of the Code of Conduct for Persons Licensed by or Registered with the Securities and Futures Commission.