Monex Boom Securities launches Hong Kong Futures trading service
The broker enables its clients to trade futures contracts on the Hong Kong Futures Exchange through its “eFutures” trading system.
Monex Boom Securities (HK), an online trading subsidiary of Monex Group, Inc. (TYO:8698), today announced the launch of its Hong Kong Futures trading service. The rollout of the new service happens a bit later than initially planned – Monex has earlier indicated the service would be launched in February 2018.
Regardless of the timing, however, the move underlines Monex Group’s efforts to expand its Hong Kong business. All clients opening futures trading accounts with Monex Boom can trade the following futures contracts on the Hong Kong Futures Exchange through its “eFutures” trading system:
- Hang Seng Index Futures;
- Mini-Hang Seng Index Futures;
- H-shares Index Futures;
- Mini H-shares Index Futures.
The company says that this offering marks the start of its futures trading business development. In addition to the futures contracts listed above, the broker is preparing to offer services in trading other futures and commodity derivatives so as to provide clients with a broader range of investment opportunities for their portfolio diversification and risk control strategies.
In the meantime, Monex Boom is among the brokerages that have sought to implement measures in order to comply with the new cyber security rules outlined by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). Monex Boom has informed its clients of the new “two-factor authentication” requirement. All clients will need to provide the One-time Password (OTP) along with the current login password for account login. Clients can set up the “MONEX BOOM Authenticator” App to get their OTP.
Let’s recall that the mandatory requirement for 2FA applies to Hong Kong-registered companies engaged in:
- Type 1 regulated activity (dealing in securities);
- Type 2 regulated activity (dealing in futures contracts);
- Type 3 regulated activity (leveraged foreign exchange trading);
- Type 9 regulated activity (asset management).
The 2FA requirement is set to come into effect on April 27, 2018. There are other rules too but they will be implemented several months later – on July 27, 2018.
The new rules concern data encryption of sensitive information such as client login credentials (ie, user ID and password) and trade data during transmission between internal networks and client devices.
A licensed or registered person should also establish and implement effective policies and procedures to ensure that a client login password is generated and delivered to a client in a secure manner during the account activation and password reset processes. The entities should have in place stringent password policies and session timeout controls and should deploy a secure network infrastructure.
