The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced that amendments to the Securities and Futures (Professional Investor) Rules (PI Rules) have come into operation today.
The categories of professional investors have been expanded to include holding companies which wholly own another corporation which is itself a qualified professional investor.
Directors of holding companies should ensure that shareholders are properly informed when the company becomes a professional investor under the amended PI Rules.
Also today, the SFC issued a circular requiring intermediaries to obtain confirmations to ensure that shareholders are properly informed of a holding company’s status before providing services to that holding company as a professional investor.
The official announcement can be seen here.