The new register, displayed on the homepage of the SFC’s website, names persons or companies who are the subjects of current cold shoulder orders made by the courts, the market misconduct tribunal or the takeovers panel.
New York-based Tiger Asia Management is one such company appearing on the list. The hedge fund was slammed with a four-year ban in October last year for using insider information to trade in Chinese bank stocks.
The alert also lists details of disqualification orders made against directors of companies and a link to “Have you seen these people?” which contains information of individuals being sought by the SFC in relation to its investigations or enforcement inquiries.
The SFC said it will delete the names from the list once prohibition or disqualification period is completed.
“Successful enforcement relies upon the cooperation of market participants and we hope the new register will make those who are prohibited from trading in Hong Kong or disqualified from acting as company directors more readily identifiable,” said Mark Steward, executive director of enforcement.
“Intermediaries are encouraged to refer to the list from time to time to ensure compliance with the orders,” the regulator said.
Rising inquiries force action
The initiative to make the list public was taken after the regulator received a number of inquiries from market participants on dealing with clients facing cold shoulder orders, the SFC said.
Participants sought clarification on dealing with “cold-shouldered” client, who wish to place orders in the Stock Connect, other markets or other automated trading systems outside Hong Kong or unwind their positions in certain transactions (swap transactions) with independent counterparties.
Addressing this, the SFC said generally, the cold shoulder order applies to client orders placed in both the Hong Kong market and other markets outside Hong Kong through different means or facilities including automated trading systems. It also applies to client orders to unwind their positions.
