The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced that has suspended Ms Chan Wai Ling for 12 months from 26 July 2017 to 25 July 2018 (Chan is licensed as a representative under the Securities and Futures Ordinance to carry on Type 1 (dealing in securities) regulated activity and was accredited to Kingsway Financial Services Group Limited between 1 April 2003 and 30 June 2015. Chan is currently accredited to KGI Asia Limited).
The disciplinary action follows an SFC investigation which found that between December 2013 and May 2015, Chan, an account executive of Kingsway Financial Services Group Limited, accepted instructions from a third party to trade in the accounts of three clients without obtaining written authorization from those clients. Chan also traded in one of the clients’ accounts on a discretionary basis based on instructions from the third party on several occasions without verifying such instructions with the client nor obtaining the client’s written authorization.
The investigation also found that Chan created deceptive telephone records to give the impression that the trade instructions originated from or were confirmed with the clients.
The SFC considers that Chan failed to act in her clients’ best interests as she did not obtain her clients’ written authorization or inform her employer before she acted on the third party instructions. Chan was also dishonest as she created deceptive telephone records which prevented her employer from monitoring the clients’ trade activities properly.
In deciding the penalty, the SFC took into account all relevant circumstances including Chan’s otherwise clean disciplinary record.