Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has reprimanded and fined Ninety One Hong Kong Limited (NOHK) $1.4 million for dealing in futures contracts without the required licence.
The SFC found that between April 2014 and January 2020, NOHK executed 4,864 trades in futures contracts for portfolios managed by its three overseas affiliates without the required licence, in breach of the SFO and the Code of Conduct.
In deciding the sanction, the SFC took into account a variety of factors, including that there is no evidence to suggest that NOHK’s failure was intentional or deliberate. The regulator also considered NOHK’s cooperation in resolving the SFC’s concerns.
The SFC also notes that there is no evidence of any client loss as a result of NOHK’s futures trading activities and that NOHK reported the incident to the SFC shortly after identifying the suspected breach and ceased its futures trading activities thereafter.
The company has an otherwise clean disciplinary record.
