The SFC's feedback on their recent round of inspections of Investment Advisers (IAs) was shared with members of the Institute of Financial Planners of Hong Kong on 8 May 2007. The SFC reported that the main issues they identified were: insufficient knowledge of clients and lack of justification to illustrate suitability of advice ...
The SFC recently appointed Mr. Mark Steward from the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) as Executive Director of Enforcement. While enforcement initiatives of the SFC under his new leadership are still evolving, reference to the past record of ASIC’s enforcement may provide some hints ...
On 7 May 2007, the SFC updated the Licensing Related Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on its website under the heading, "Other Topics relating to the Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO)".The updated FAQs assist licensed corporations or licensed applicants in understanding the SFC's view on factors relating to suitability of business premises ...
A licensed corporation, registered institution, licensed individual, substantial shareholder of a licensed corporation, corporate licence applicant or an individual licence applicant can apply to the SFC to have certain sections of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO) or any provision of rules made by the SFC modified or waived under the SFO according to section 134 of the SFO ...
Some things change, others never change. The choice of procurement route is still governed by three main factors:· Time· Cost· Quality It is hard, if not impossible to achieve the best of all these three but when choosing a procurement route consideration must be given to the list of priorities so that people's expectations are properly managed ...
The financial services industry recently witnessed a plethora of competition investigations. The banking sector, in particular, has attracted the attention of competition watchdogs in an increasingly complex regulatory environment. Following an 18-month European sector enquiry, UK banks seem to have largely escaped the danger of significant enforcement actions, except possibly in relation to credit cards ...
The Office of Fair Trading has written to a number of undisclosed companies in the construction industry, in relation to its ongoing investigation into a suspected multi-billion pound bid rigging cartel. It is offering the "late comers" a last chance to mitigate the potential fines which might be ascending upon them in the biggest cartel investigation in UK history ...
"Outsourcing" is defined as an event in which the regulated financial services firm (the "outsourcing entity"), contracts with a service provider to perform any aspect of the outsourcing entity's regulated or unregulated functions that could otherwise be undertaken by the entity itself. The service provider may be a related party within a corporate group, or an unrelated third party entity ...
A Chinese commercial bank recently launched an investment product under the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investors scheme (QDII) which takes in Renminbi funds from mainland investors and invests in offshore equity funds, fixed income instruments and money market products denominated in foreign currencies. This is an important breakthrough as previously QDII products from banks only invested in fixed income instruments ...
The countdown towards implementation of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) is well underway. The Directive, which replaces the existing Investment Services Directive, is due to come into force across the European Union by 1 November 2007. Member States are required to have the necessary enabling legislation and regulatory rules in final form by 31 January ...
Under UCITS Regulations, UCITS III funds are permitted to use financial derivative instruments (FDIs) not only for hedging but also as part of their general investment policies. The Irish Financial Regulator requires that the risks involved in using FDI are properly managed, measured and monitored in an ongoing basis through designing and implementing a comprehensive risk management process (RMP) ...
In a speech on 20 November 2006, Mrs Alexa Lam, the SFC's Executive Director of Intermediaries and Investment Products, announced that the SFC will continue its focus on ensuring that financial products are not mis-sold in Hong Kong and that investors are provided with appropriate advice from their investment advisers (IAs) ...
In late 2006, China’s National Social Security Fund Council for the first time granted overseas mandates to 10 global investment managers to manage in total USD 1 billion of the National Social Security Fund (“NSSF”). It is reported that the NSSF, China’s national pension fund of last resort, has total assets worth of around USD30 billion.The 10 managers are AllianceBernstein, Allianz, AXA Rosenberg, BlackRock, JanusINTECH, Invesco, PIMCO, State Street Global Advisors, T ...
The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) recently issued draft rules namely, Regulatory Measures on Offshore Investment of Insurance Assets, governing China's insurance companies' investment in their assets offshore and the appointment of foreign investment managers ...
The role that Asian banks will play in film financing in Asia is a challenging and necessary one as we continue to see the fast paced growth of the Asian film industries. Asia is, so far, an untapped resource of ideas, stories, shooting locations, skilled crew, talent and effective film making techniques ...
When the government and a contractor negotiate a construction contract, they usually stipulate in the contract that, in case of any dispute arising from the contract, such dispute shall be submitted to the engineer or the architect for decision before such dispute is submitted for arbitration. This is what is commonly referred to as a¡§pre-arbitration¡¨ procedure ...
1 When Do We Need a Building Permit?As a rule, the construction of or any structural alterations to any building situated on theRomanian territory requires a building permit. Few are the contexts where this rule is notapplicable. These situations usually refer to the repairing and maintenance works to the existingbuildings, which do not involve changes in the initial features of the buildings ...
Pursuant to the so-called Four Years Act, owners may unilaterally increase the rent for certain apartments during the period of 2007 to 2010 for once a year up to the target value. The calculation method is set forth by law and the target value will be announced by the Ministry for Local Development in the Collection of Laws. The written announcement of the increase must be duly justified. The lessee may file an action in respect of invalidating the increase ...
During the past decade, project financing structures have been actively used in Colombia in connection with the construction and improvement of infrastructure facilities and the expansion of access to basic public services. In particular, private investment has been active in concessions, the privatization and capitalization of public entities, BOT, BOO and BOLT schemes and other financing techniques ...
Pursuant to the Act on Supervision of Financial Market, the National Bank of Slovakia has issued this Measure, which defines the content, format, terms, form, method, procedure and place of submitting the reports of the allotment funds, which issue allotment fund certificates in the Slovak Republic, by asset management companies and branches of foreign asset management companies for statistical purposes. This Measure is published in the Bulletin of the National Bank of Slovakia (Issue No ...
Side letters are a common phenomenon encountered by hedge fund managers today. These letters are often used to secure better fees for key investors and to give preferential or improved access to information about underlying investments and liquidity. They also provide what are commonly referred to as most favoured nation provisions, meaning that if the fund offers better terms to another investor, the early-stage investors will also be able to take those new or better terms ...
