The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced that has suspended Mr Hui Lam Chiu, a former responsible officer of Guoyuan Securities Brokerage (Hong Kong) Limited (Guoyuan), for six months from 19 May 2017 to 18 November 2017.
The disciplinary action follows the SFC’s sanction against Guoyuan over its breach of the anti-money laundering guidelines in failing to conduct proper enquiries and scrutiny to mitigate the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing when processing third party fund deposits and withdrawals for clients between September 2010 and July 2012.
Hui was the responsible officer and senior management officer responsible for handling and approving the third party fund transfers at Guoyuan during the relevant period. He was also one of the personnel responsible for ensuring that the third party fund transfers were in compliance with anti-money laundering requirements.
The SFC found that Guoyuan’s breaches were partly attributable to Hui’s failure to discharge his duties as a responsible officer and a member of Guoyuan’s senior management in ensuring all reasonable measures were taken to mitigate the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing. In particular, Hui failed to ensure that:
- Guoyuan conducted proper enquiries and followed up on some of the third party fund transfers despite the presence of a number of red flags suggesting that they were unusual and/or potentially suspicious; and
- Guoyuan’s procedures for dealing with third party fund transfers were effectively employed to ensure that the risks of money laundering could be mitigated.
In deciding the disciplinary sanction, the SFC took into account all relevant circumstances, including Hui’s cooperation with the SFC in resolving the SFC’s concerns and Hui’s otherwise clean disciplinary record.