Hong Kong’s SFC imposes 10-month ban on former Phillip Securities account exec
Song Peng effected transactions in a client’s account between April 2015 and May 2016 on a discretionary basis without obtaining the client’s prior written authorization.
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) today announces that it has prohibited Mr Song Peng, a former account executive of Phillip Securities (Hong Kong) Limited, from re-entering the industry for 10 months over his breach of the SFC’s Code of Conduct. The ban lasts from July 12, 2019 to May 11, 2020.
The SFC found that Song effected transactions in a client’s securities account and margin account between April 2015 and May 2016 on a discretionary basis without obtaining the client’s prior written authorization, nor with the knowledge and approval of his then employer.
Although the client had verbally authorized Song to trade in the accounts on a discretionary basis, the absence of a written authorization prevented Phillip Securities from monitoring and supervising the operation of the accounts, and deprived the client from protection against the risk of unauthorized trades carried out in his accounts.
In determining the penalty, the SFC took into account all relevant circumstances, including the duration of Song’s misconduct and his otherwise clean disciplinary record.
The SFC has been very strict when it comes to clients authorizing transactions. In May this year, the regulator prohibited Mr Wong Ka Hang, a former licensed representative of Haitong International Futures Limited, from re-entering the industry for 9 months pursuant to section 194 of the Securities and Futures Ordinance. The SFC found that Wong accepted instructions from a third party to trade in the account of a client without obtaining the client’s written authorization, and used the client’s password to access the client’s futures account online and conduct trades on his behalf.
