In the SFC’s latest move, a former HSBC employee who received commission after falsely claiming she had sold unit trust and insurance funds, will be prevented from working again in Hong Kong’s financial services industry.
Li Lee, who was sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment in July 2016, was responsible for selling and promoting investment and insurance products at HSBC.
Between September and October 2012, Li made false claims that she had sold unit trust funds and an insurance product to five customers.
Li also claimed to have explained to the customers the details and investment risks of the products, which resulted in HSBC processing the subscription orders and insurance application and paying Li sales commission.
In fact, the five customers were referred to her by a colleague and she had neither met nor sold them any products.
A district court found that Li paid the colleague HK$30,000 to HK$60,000 (£6,190, $7,733, €7,267) on 26 November 2012 as compensation for referring the customers to her.
SFC action
Disciplinary action taken by the SFC increased by 66.7% during the six months to 30 September 2016, compared with the same period in 2015.
At the end of 2016, the Hong Kong regulator relaunched its Enforcement Reporter publication to provide biannual updates on the SFC’s key enforcement priorities.
Executive director of enforcement, Thomas Atkinson said: “Listed companies-related fraud and misfeasance have wiped out billions in market capitalisation and caused significant damage to the integrity and reputation of our markets.
“The SFC has formed a specialised team to focus on these cases.”
