SFC Bans Phillip Securities Employee for Unauthorized Trades

Hong Kong’s financial watchdog, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), has banned a former account manager at Phillip Securities from re-entering the industry for two years after he was convicted of conducting unauthorized trades in the accounts of two clients.

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The disciplinary action follows an SFC investigation which found that Poon Kin Lung had placed discretionary trades on behalf of two clients without obtaining the proper authorization.

The violation occurred while he was a registered representative with SFC under the Securities and Futures Ordinance to carry on Type 1 (dealing in securities) and Type 2 (dealing in futures contracts) regulated activities. Following the regulator’s decision, Poon is no longer licensed by the SFC nor registered with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

Furthermore, Poon did not report the unauthorised transactions to Phillip Securities and also failed to keep a proper record of the clients’ instructions which were sent to him via phone calls and sometime usings WhatsApp.

As such, Poon acted contrary to the internal policy of Phillip Securities whilst his conduct also fell short of the standard set out in the Code of Conduct, casting doubt on his fitness to be licensed.

After taking into account all relevant circumstances, including that he had no previous disciplinary record, the SFC has decided to ban Mr. Poon Kin Lungfrom from re-entering the industry for two years from 15 December 2016 to 14 December 2018.

The watchdog further stated that Poon did not act in the best interests of his clients when he conducted the unauthorised trades in the account without authorization, breaching the General Principal 2 and paragraph 7.1 of the Code of Conduct.