[Hong Kong] Market Misconduct Tribunal sanctions Magic Holdings International Limited and its directors for late disclosure of inside information
SFC
News 11 Mar 2021
The
Market Misconduct Tribunal (MMT) has fined Magic Holdings International Limited
and five of its directors a total of $4 million after they were found to be
culpable of late disclosure of inside information on L’Oréal S.A.’s proposed
acquisition of Magic in 2013. The five directors were also disqualified from
being a director or being involved in the management of a listed corporation or
any other specified corporation, for eight to 24 months. The MMT considered
that Magic’s breach of the disclosure requirement was all the more serious
because it had not taken all reasonable measures to monitor the confidentiality
of the proposed acquisition and it had not disclosed it to the public as soon
as reasonably practicable after becoming aware that the confidentiality of the
proposed acquisition had not been preserved.
Full text: click here
[Mainland China] Ant
Group publishes ‘responsible finance rules’ to protect consumers amid
heightened scrutiny from Chinese regulators
SCMP, 12 Mar 2021
Ant Group has published a set of responsible
finance rules for its sprawling business, as the fintech giant heeds
regulators’ call to enforce consumer protection and stave off systemic risks
amid tightened scrutiny. The rules covering its businesses on wealth
management, insurance, consumer credit, loans for small-and-micro-operators as
well as Zhima Credit.
Full text: click here
[Hong Kong] No launch
date in sight for wealth management connect as it depends on resumption of
cross-border travel, HKMA chief says
SCMP, 15 Mar 2021
The launch of the wealth management connect
will have to wait until cross-border travel restrictions are relaxed, but the
Hong Kong Monetary Authority is working with mainland authorities to get it off
the ground as quickly as possible, according to Eddie Yue Wai-man, chief
executive of HKMA. The wealth management connect scheme was announced by
Beijing in June but no launch date has been fixed. Yue said that the HKMA was
working with the mainland authorities to simplify the process, which would
require just one cross-border travel to open a bank account. Usually opening an
account requires a lot of documents and the process sometimes requires multiple
visits to the bank.
Full text: click here
[Hong Kong] SFC reprimands and fines
Sino-Rich Securities & Futures Limited $7.2 million for breaches of
anti-money laundering regulatory requirements
SFC Enforcement News, 15 Mar 2021
The SFC has reprimanded and fined Sino-Rich Securities & Futures
Limited $7.2 million for failures in complying with anti-money laundering and
counter-terrorist financing regulatory requirements when handling cash deposits
and third party fund transfers. Sino-Rich’s staff were required to fill in the
relevant third party transfer forms, but the SFC’s investigation found that important
information such as the client’s relationship with the third party, the reason
for the transfer and/or the client’s signature was not provided in around 40%
of the forms. The SFC also found that a substantial number of cash deposits and
third party transfers processed or approved by Sino-Rich raised a number of red
flags that warranted further inquiries or report to the JFIU. The SFC is of the
view that Sino-Rich’s conduct was in breach of the Anti-Money Laundering and
Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance, the Guideline on Anti-Money Laundering
and Counter-Terrorist Financing (April 2015 – February 2018 edition), the Code
of Conduct and the Internal Control Guidelines.
Full text: click here
[Hong Kong] SFC issues restriction notices
to 15 brokers to freeze client accounts linked to suspected social media
ramp-and-dump scam
SFC Enforcement News, 15 Mar 2021
The SFC has issued restriction notices to 15 brokers, prohibiting them
from dealing with or processing certain assets held in 32 trading accounts,
which are related to a suspected social media ramp-and-dump scam involving the
manipulation of the market in the shares of a company listed on The Stock
Exchange of Hong Kong Limited between November 2019 and November 2020. The
brokerages include: Canfield Securities Company Limited, China Galaxy
International Securities (Hong Kong) Co., Limited, Sun Hung Kai Investment
Services Limited and Sun International Securities Limited.
Full text: click here
[Singapore] Court convicts individual for
false trading and deception
MAS News, 15 Mar 2021
Mr Wong Leon Keat was sentenced on 12 March 2021 to a total of eight
weeks’ imprisonment and a fine of $30,000 for false trading and deceiving a
brokerage firm while trading in the shares of Gaylin Holdings Limited. His
conviction was the result of a joint investigation conducted by the Monetary
Authority of Singapore and the Commercial Affairs Department of the Singapore
Police Force, following a referral by the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading
Limited (SGX-ST) to the MAS. He faced 17 charges in relation to violations of section
197(1)(b) of the Securities and Futures Act (SFA) for creating misleading
appearances with respect to the price of Gaylin shares on 17 occasions from 11
November 2015 to 25 October 2016, and a charge under section 201(b) of the SFA
for deceiving UOB Kay Hian Private Limited by not disclosing his 50 percent
beneficial interest in Gaylin shares bought using a UOBKH trading account
belonging to another individual.
Full text: click here
[Singapore] Insurance (Lloyd's Asia
Scheme) Regulations
MAS Regulation, 15 Mar 2021
The MAS revised the Forms and Annexes and Notes to the Forms Used for
the Purposes of the Insurance (Lloyd's Asia Scheme) Regulations. The Regulation
set out requirements for carrying on insurance business under the Lloyd's Asia
Scheme, a foreign insurer scheme established under the Insurance Act (Cap.
142).
Full text: click here
[Singapore] Notice 811A Credit Files,
Grading and Provisioning - COVID-19
MAS News, 15 Mar 2021
This notice sets out the credit grading treatment, for credit facilities
granted support measures by finance companies in response to the COVID-19
outbreak, for the period beginning on 1 January 2021 and ending on 31 December
2021. It applies to all finance companies in Singapore.
Full text: click here
[Singapore] Consultation Paper on Proposed
Exemption Framework for Cross-Border Business Arrangements of Capital Markets
Intermediaries Involving Foreign Offices
MAS News, 15 Mar 2021
The MAS issued a consultation paper to seeks views on (i) MAS’ proposal
to exempt foreign head offices or branches of financial institutions in
Singapore from the applicable business conduct and representative notification
requirements when they serve Singapore customers; and (ii) proposed
notification and annual reporting forms, as well as the draft regulations and
notices, for both the proposed Branch Framework and notified FRC framework.