On 17 June 2020, the Occupational Retirement Schemes (Amendment) Bill 2019 (Bill) was passed at the Legislative Council. The Bill introduces amendments to the Occupational Retirement Schemes Ordinance (ORSO) with a view to preventing the misuse of schemes for purposes unrelated to employment and improving the governance of ORSO schemes ...
On 11 June 2020, the Discrimination Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2018 (Bill) was passed at the Legislative Council. The Bill introduced amendments to Hong Kong’s four anti-discrimination legislations, namely the Sex Discrimination Ordinance (SDO), the Disability Discrimination Ordinance (DDO), the Family Status Discrimination Ordinance (FSDO), and the Race Discrimination Ordinance (RDO) (Amendments) ...
On 20 May 2020, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange of China issued the Circular on Supporting the Development of New Forms of Trade (Circular). The Circular summarised previous pilot experiences and, established foreign exchange (forex) policies that are meant to optimise new forms of trade[1]. The Circular has been implemented since the date of its promulgation ...
In light of the COVID-19 public health crisis, the Government of Hong Kong has taken historic measures to restore confidence and liquidity to the economy. Such measures have taken the form of direct subsidies for both employers and employees, individuals and bodies corporate. A salient issue to consider was, however, whether such subsidies would be chargeable to tax ...
The Amendments to the Agreement on Trade in Services of the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (Amendment) which was signed on 21 November 2019 has come into force on 1 June 2020. Trade in Services is one of the four major areas covered by the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), under which Hong Kong service suppliers enjoy preferential treatment when entering certain service sectors in the Mainland ...
Two new bills, the Insurance Amendment Bill and the Insurance Amendment (No. 2) Bill have recently been gazetted making significant changes to the regulatory regime for insurance companies. Insurance Amendment Bill Special purpose insurer An amendment is made to allow registration of an insurance company which engages in special purpose business only ...
In 鄧錦祥 v 鄭鄧錦容 , CACV 370/2019, the Hong Kong Court of Appeal exercised its discretion to dismiss the Respondent’s late application for security for costs and reminded litigants and their legal representatives of their duty to proceed promptly with making interlocutory applications in an appeal, as delay in making such applications can be a ground for the court to dismiss them, especially where a hearing date for the appeal has already been fixed ...
In Da Shing Group Ltd v Rich Promise Limited [2020] HKCFI 588[1], the Hong Kong Court of First Instance provided guiding principles in the interpretation of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and considered whether pre-contractual exchanges could be admitted as evidence. The MOU in Chinese related to the acquisition of about 50.46% of the shareholding (Shares) in a listed company, Crocodile Garments Limited (Crocodile) ...
Section 29 of the Bankruptcy Ordinance (Cap. 6) (BO) allows a trustee in bankruptcy to apply to the Courts for orders compelling disclosure of material documents and/or information of the bankrupt in order for the trustee to carry out his/her duties under the bankruptcy. For the authors’ previous article on Section 29, please see here ...
Section 29 of the Bankruptcy Ordinance (Cap. 6) (BO) allows a trustee in bankruptcy to apply to the Courts for orders compelling disclosure of material documents and/or information of the bankrupt in order for the trustee to carry out his/her duties under the bankruptcy. For the authors’ previous article on Section 29, please see here ...
The government has rolled out a series of measures to relieve the economic impact brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Introduced under the second round Anti-epidemic Fund, the Employment Support Scheme (ESS) has come under the spotlight as it aims to provide wage subsidies to employers against their undertaking to spend all subsidies on paying wages to their employees and not to implement redundancy during the subsidy period ...
Despite the restrictions on activity affecting Hong Kong since the beginning of the year, there have been several enforcement cases reported which can provide some useful lessons or reminders for intermediaries. Approvals involve due diligence A requirement for approval for a transaction indicates that the transaction is unusual or involves material risk ...
On 16 March 2020, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) published its 2019 Financial Review of the Securities Industry. This is an annual review which contains statistical information about the financial situation of firms licensed for type 1 (dealing in securities) or type 8 (securities margin financing) regulated activities ...
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued a circular on 27 March 2020 reminding the industry of the importance of compliance with the suitability obligation. Deacons’ client alert, which you can access here provides a succinct summary of the sources of the suitability obligation and the SFC’s FAQs on the subject. The alert also drew attention to the sampling and monitoring obligations under FAQ 10, which are frequently overlooked ...
In a recent enforcement action, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued a public reprimand and a HK$19.6 million fine to a licensed corporation (LC) for a range of breaches and internal control shortcomings, including failures relating to: 1. AML 2. Authorisation for transactions 3. Record keeping 4. Handling of client complaints 5. Telephone recording 6. Margin lending 7 ...
On 7 May 2020, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) jointly issued the Regulations on Funds of Securities and Futures Investment by Foreign Institutional Investors (PBOC & SAFE Announcement [2020] No. 2, the New Regulations available here in Chinese), and the Policy Q&A No.1 clarifying certain details in the New Regulations (available here in Chinese). The official implementation date for the New Regulations is 6 June 2020 ...
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have been forced to work from home and this has created new opportunities and very fertile ground for the emergence of cyber threats. Accordingly, on 29 April 2020, the Intermediaries Supervision Department of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued a circular (Circular) containing examples of controls and procedures firms can put in place to manage their cybersecurity risks ...
On 28 April 2020, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the Competition Commission entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the intention to enhance their cooperation and exchange of information, so as to allow each regulator to perform their respective functions more effectively. This is the second MoU entered into by the Competition Commission with a Hong Kong regulator, and is the first MoU the Competition Commission entered into with a financial regulator ...
On 28 April 2020, the Competition Commission entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) to enhance their cooperation and exchange of information, so as to allow each regulator to perform their respective functions more effectively. This is the second MoU entered into by the Competition Commission with a Hong Kong regulator[1], and is the first MoU the Competition Commission entered into with a financial regulator ...
On 8 April 2020, the Government announced a HK$137 billion package of anti-epidemic measures to be rolled out, including the Employment Support Scheme (ESS) with a proposed budget of HK$81 billion. The ESS aims to provide financial subsidies to employers in two tranches against their undertaking to spend all the wage subsidies on paying wages to their employees and keep them in employment during the COVID-19 epidemic ...
Whilst crypto-assets are customarily associated with high volatility, a low-volatility crypto-asset, the so-called “stablecoin”, has emerged recently. Stablecoin initiatives typically aim to create a store of value backing the crypto-asset and means of exchange. In view of the increasing discussion of such initiatives, in particular with global technology firms contemplating the issuance of their own stablecoin (e ...
Significant changes are expected to be introduced to the trademark law of Hong Kong to cater for the examination, acceptance and administration of the International Registration of marks under the Madrid System which is tentatively scheduled for launch in 2022/23. The Hong Kong Intellectual Property Department (IPD) is revamping the trademark law to align with international practices, after holding several industry consultations to gather opinions and recommendations ...
