SFC Outlined Market Regulation Approach and Fined Citigroup
SFC Outlined Market Regulation Approach and Fined Citigroup
Mr. Brian Ho of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) outlined the SFC’s approach to market regulation in a speech on 17 May 2018. The speech covered the April 2018 changes to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx) Listing Rules allowing (i) pre-revenue biotech companies and (ii) high growth tech and innovative companies with weighted voting rights (WVR) structures to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and the measures adopted to safeguard investors’ interests. Discussing the SFC’s response to regulatory challenges, Mr. Ho noted the tightened GEM listing requirements effective 18 February 2018 (for details of which please see our December 2017 newsletter), and further HKEx Listing Rule changes prohibiting highly dilutive capital raisings post-listing which take effect on 3 July 2018. Mr. Ho’s speech, delivered at the Sixth Annual Institute on Corporate and Securities Law in Hong Kong 2018, also referred to a regulatory response to backdoor and shell company listings currently being worked on by the SFC and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Read more…