In its Quarterly Report released today, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) summarises key regulatory developments in the reporting period of April to June 2012.
The SFC:
- commenced a consultation on proposals to enhance the initial public offering (IPO) sponsors’ regime in May and extended the consultation period to the end of July following market requests;
- launched the Securities and Futures (Short Position Reporting) Rules on 18 June and targets to publish aggregate short positions of individual stocks from 7 September and thereafter on a weekly basis;
- completed processing all relevant corporate and individual licence applications to enable five banks to transfer their IPO sponsor business to licensed corporations within their respective groups;
- published consultation conclusions in July on the proposed over-the-counter derivatives regime – an important element of the Group of Twenty reforms in response to the global financial crisis;
- obtained a court order requiring Hontex International Holding Co, Ltd to offer to repurchase shares from investors and revoked Mega Capital (Asia) Co, Ltd’s licence to advise on corporate finance, imposing a fine of $42 million for failing to discharge its duties as the sole IPO sponsor of Hontex;
- authorized for local listing three Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (RQFII) A-share exchange-traded funds, a new product type; and
- worked towards launching the Investor Education Centre, an SFC subsidiary that will fulfil a broad education mandate to address the full spectrum of financial services.
“Action taken during this quarter illustrates clearly our absolute commitment to market quality and investor protection while encouraging market development,” said Mr Ashley Alder, the SFC’s Chief Executive Officer.
The report is available under "Published resources> Corporate publications> Quarterly reports" of the SFC site (www.sfc.hk).