Can regulators require accounting firms to provide documents for investigations? by Joseph Kwan
In May 2011, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("the SEC") issued a subpoena against Deloitte Touch Tohmatsu CPA Ltd ("DT"), requiring Deloitte Touche Shanghai ("DT Shanghai") to produce documents to assist it in its investigation of possible fraud and other violations concerning the securities of Longtop Financial Technologies Ltd ("Longtop"), a foreign private issuer, the securities of which are registered with the SEC and traded on U.S. markets. DT Shanghai had audited Longtop's financial statements for several years, before it resigned as auditor in May 2011, after discovering numerous financial improprieties. Full article
A useful reminder for banks when a wife secures her husband’s debts, by Daisy Tong
In the recent Hong Kong case, Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited v Wong Kam Ho and Ors, [2014] 1 HKLRD, 41, the presiding Judge, G Lam J. examined the doctrine of undue influence, which enables a court to strike down a transaction where the intention to enter into it has been procured unconscionably. Specifically, in this case, the court examined a bank's duties where a wife guaranteed banking facilities granted to her husband's business, Wing Fat. An interesting point also arose in relation to the recoverability of interest payable by the wife on the principal sum due to the bank. Full article
Tiger Asia ordered to pay investors HK$45 million, by Joseph Kwan
In our April 2012, May 2013 and August 2013 newsletters, we reported on the case of Securities and Futures Commission v. Tiger Asia Management LLC & others.
On 20 December 2013, the Court of First Instance ordered Tiger Asia Management LLC ("Tiger Asia"), a New York based asset management company, and two of its senior officers, Bill Sung Kook Hwang and Raymond Park ("the Tiger Asia Parties"), to pay HK$45,266,610 to investors affected by their insider dealing involving two Hong Kong-listed banking stocks.
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Acknowledgement of Debt meant there was no dispute to refer to arbitration, by Cheung Kwok Kit
In the case of Suzhou Quam-SND Venture Capital Enterprise & Anor v Great East Packaging International Ltd & Ors, 23 July 2013, Hong Kong's High Court (Court of First Instance) considered an application for a stay of proceedings in favour of arbitration. Full article
More than just a formality - a former licensee was convicted for providing false or misleading information in the Annual Return for Licensed Representatives, by Joseph Kwan and Tai Kam Cheung
Those in the financial industry would be familiar with the annual return of licensed representatives required to be submitted to the Securities and Futures Commission ("SFC") every year. There is a part in the annual return for the licensed representatives to declare whether there is/are any change(s) to the information provided to the SFC previously (usually by the initial application for licence and the annual return submitted every year).
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HSBC Securities Brokers (Asia) Limited reprimanded and fined $5 million for providing inaccurate information in licence application
On 19 December 2013, the SFC reprimanded HSBC Securities Brokers (Asia) Limited (HSBC Securities), a wholly owned subsidiary of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC), and fined it $5 million, for providing inaccurate information to the SFC during a licence application, pursuant to section 194 of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571). Full article