The Hong Kong regulator says the broker took HK$2.3 billion in suspicious deposits The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced on Monday that it has fined Guosen Securities’ Hong Kong division 15.2 million Hong Kong dollars ($1.94 million) for violating anti-money laundering (AML) regulations. According to the SFC, Guosen processed over 10,000 third party deposits, for approximately […]

Hong Kong’s financial system is groaning under a deluge of tens of thousands of suspicious financial transaction reports, the number of which has more than quadrupled over the past six years. In 2017 the Joint Financial Intelligence Unit – which acts as a clearing house for reports of suspicious activity filed by banks and other […]

HONG KONG (Reuters) – A Hong Kong tribunal on Tuesday imposed a record fine of HK$400 million ($51 million) on the private banking unit of HSBC (HSBA.L) in a case related to the sale of Lehman Brothers-linked structured financial products between 2003 and 2008. The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) had originally imposed a penalty […]

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Private Wealth Management Association (PWMA) have announced the PWMA’s adoption of the “Treat Customers Fairly Charter for Private Wealth Management Industry”. The charter is drawn from good local and overseas banking practices, as well as the G20 high-level principles on financial consumer protection. It contains five high-level […]

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has updated its frequently asked questions (FAQs) on customer due diligence (CDD), which supersede the FAQs published on 29 September 2016. The FAQs address issues concerning the interpretation of CDD-related legal and regulatory requirements in the context of problems faced by authorised institutions in establishing and maintaining business relationships […]

For all those that have been moving to Hong Kong, the following will be of great interest. As we all know Regulators in key markets around the world have increasingly looked for more effective ways to hold senior managers of financial institutions accountable for failings or wrongdoing within their institutions, driven by the belief that […]

Reuters have reported that Hong Kong takes aim at middlemen in the wake of Panama Papers scandal The Article Goes On To Say Hong Kong is beefing up its anti-money laundering, and corporate disclosure laws in a move that some financial crime specialists say could lead to the exodus of billions of dollars in assets […]

The Financial Services and Treasury Bureau (FSTB) on January 6 released for public consultation two proposals dealing with the regulation of designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBP’s) and enhanced transparency of corporate beneficial ownership. The FSTB has asked for written comments on or before 5 March 2017 to (or “intending to”) implementing legislation before the […]