The Securities and Futures Commission’s (SFC) has on 19 February 2025 rolled out a new regulatory roadmap setting out its core guiding principles to continue Hong Kong’s development as a virtual assets (VA) hub. The roadmap adopts the “ASPIRe” slogan representing its 5 pillars – Access, Safeguards, Products
From 23 September 2024, Hong Kong’s securities and derivatives markets will remain open during severe weather conditions (where a typhoon signal No. 8 or above or a black rainstorm warning is issued by the Hong Kong Observatory). The Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (SFC) published a Circular on 18 June 2024
Background
On 22 December 2023, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) issued an updated joint circular on intermediaries’ virtual asset-related activities (Joint Circular) with appendices. The Joint Circular supersedes the previous joint circular of 20 October 2023 (October Joint
On 20 October 2023, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) issued an updated joint circular on intermediaries’ virtual asset-related activities (Joint Circular) with appendices. This Joint Circular supersedes the previous joint circular of 28 January 2022.
When the SFC formulated
Uncertificated securities market regime
On 11 June 2021, the Hong Kong Government gazetted the Securities and Futures and Companies Legislation (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 (SFCA Ordinance), marking a significant milestone in moving Hong Kong towards an uncertificated securities market (USM) where investors will have the option of holding securities in their own
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has launched a three-month consultation on proposals to amend its anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) guidelines for licensed corporations (LCs) and associated entities (AEs).[1] The proposed amendments aim to align the AML/CTF guidelines with the Guidance for a
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) recently issued a consultation paper setting out its proposed regulatory approach for derivatives contracts that reference payment tokens as underlying assets (Payment Token Derivatives).
What is this approach meant to address?
A well-regulated market for derivatives – particularly one anchored by institutional investors with sophisticated
On 4 April 2019, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) released the conclusions of its consultation on proposed guidelines for securities margin financing activities (the Guidelines).
The existing conduct requirements for securities margin financing activities are mainly prescribed in the Code of Conduct for Persons Licensed by or Registered with the SFC