Luo’s actions date back to August 2013 when she was an associate of JP Morgan’s client facilitation desk. She was was licensed to deal in and advise on securities and futures contracts for JP Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) and its relevant securities and broking divisions.
“[Luo] created a short sell order of 300,000 shares in China Resources Land Limited and released part of the order to the market without ensuring a relevant stock borrow arrangement [was] in place as required by her employer’s procedures for ensuring compliance with short selling regulations”, the Securities and Futures Commission said.
She then failed to report her breach, the regulator said, and instead “took various steps to conceal it, including falsely [representing] to the compliance department that she had arranged prior internal stock transfer to cover the short position”.
When Luo created the China Resources order, JP Morgan as a group held sufficient shares in that company to cover the order, the SFC added.
The SFC found her conduct unacceptable for a licenced individual and instituted a ban for six months from 10 March 2015 to 9 September 2015.
