Compliance
Compliance Corner: Hong Kong's SFC, Singapore's MAS
The latest compliance news: regulatory developments, punishments, guidance, permissions and new product and service offerings.
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission has banned Poon Choi Yung, a former licensed representative of China Tonghai Securities Limited, from re-entering the industry for 20 months from 12 April 2022 to 11 December 2023.
Poon was punished after the SFC found that between June 2019 and March 2020, he effected 1,002 transactions in six clients’ accounts without the clients’ specific authorisations for the trades and/or their written authorisations for him to effect the trades on a discretionary basis, it said in a statement earlier this week.
The regulator’s probe also found that Poon failed to take reasonable steps to establish three clients’ financial situations and investment experience during account opening between May 2019 and February 2020.
The SFC said that Poon had “also failed to act with due skill, care and diligence, and in the best interests of the clients when carrying on business activities.”
The watchdog took into account factors such as Poon’s cooperation in resolving the SFC’s concerns and his otherwise clean disciplinary record.
Monetary Authority of Singapore, Australia
Treasury
Australia and Singapore have signed a pact to boost their means
of cooperating over financial technology.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore, the regulator, and Australia’s Treasury department signed a “bridge agreement,” following talks between the two countries in June last year, MAS said in a statement yesterday.
“The FinTech Bridge aims to build on the overarching framework for digital economy cooperation under the Australia-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement to deepen collaboration between the FinTech ecosystems of both countries,” MAS said.
The agreement will, among other features, support mutual establishment of fintech businesses seeking to expand in each other’s markets, explore opportunities and cut barriers to entry. It will also build links between industry groups, regulators and policy officials.
