Hong Kong regulator investigates non-exchange traded product sales
Hong Kong’s investment regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission, is continuing to investigate the product sales of licensed firms, the latest example of which is a questionnaire on distribution of non-exchange-traded funds and investments.
The SFC said the purpose of the exercise was to “facilitate the commission’s understanding of licensed corporations’ activities in this area.”
Among the questions asked by the regulator are those of the value of non-exchange traded products during the past year, what type of instruments or vehicles were used and in what assets were they linked to or invested in.
The survey, which the SFC said would be treated confidentially, also asked for the top three providers from which products were bought and sold, the income derived from this type of business and the how companies marketed themselves in respect of such products.
The SFC has been stepping up enforcement and regulation in the past year, a change that is believed to stem from the fall out following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, which led to thousands of retail investors who had bought structured investments backed by the investment bank losing money.