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The Government published in the Gazette today (November 13) the Securities and Futures (Amendment) Ordinance 2015 (Amendment Ordinance).
With the implementation of the Amendment Ordinance today, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) will have the ability to enter into supervisory memoranda of understanding with regulators outside Hong Kong to enable reciprocal supervisory assistance, and provide a narrow form of supervisory assistance to regulators outside Hong Kong upon request. This will enhance the SFC's monitoring of financial stability in Hong Kong and give licensed corporations greater access to overseas markets, which would be conducive to maintaining Hong Kong's financial stability and development.
A government spokesman said, "To prevent abuse and preserve confidentiality of information, the existing safeguards for providing assistance to regulators outside Hong Kong will continue to apply, which include that the SFC must ascertain that providing the assistance is in the public interest. In order to prevent unwarranted requests, additional safeguards are attached to the new powers under the Amendment Ordinance, which include that the SFC will require the regulator outside Hong Kong to undertake in writing that it would use the information solely for ascertaining the relevant supervisory matters, and that it would treat the information as confidential and not disclose it to any other persons for any purpose without the consent of the SFC."
The Amendment Ordinance also refines certain provisions in the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571) to reflect change of circumstances since the Ordinance commenced in 2003 and provides more clarity on their administration.
Ends/Friday, November 13, 2015
Issued at HKT 11:30
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