Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has suspended the licence of Mr Wang Shian-tang, a former licensed representative of Yuanta Securities (Hong Kong) Limited for 26 months from 20 November 2024 to 19 January 2027.

The SFC’s investigation found that Wang entered into a private profit-sharing agreement with a client on discretionary trading services without Yuanta’s knowledge or consent. As part of the agreement, he was entitled to receive 10% of the annual profits he generated through investment for his client. In doing so, Wang’s dishonest act was in breach of the Code of Conduct.

The regulator also found that, between October 2019 and April 2022, Wang maintained a personal investment account with a broker other than Yuanta. He conducted 10 warrant trades with a total transaction value of over $350,000 through the account. However, he failed to disclose to Yuanta the existence of the account, and the trades. By circumventing Yuanta’s employee dealing policy, he prevented Yuanta from monitoring his personal trading activities.

Wang further made false and disingenuous representations to the SFC regarding his personal account and trades.

In deciding the sanction against Wang, the SFC has taken into account a variety of factors, including that Wang displayed dishonest behaviour and the need for a deterrent message to be sent to the market. The regulator noted that Wang has an otherwise clean disciplinary record.