Hong Kong SFC Fines I-Access Investors $76,000 for Transmitting Test & Simulated Securities Trading Data to Clients Triggering Stop-Loss Sell Orders, Did Not Inform & Compensate Clients
16th March 2023 | Hong Kong
The Hong Kong Securities & Futures Commission (SFC) has reprimanded & fined I-Access Investors $76,000 (HKD 600,000) for transmitting test & simulated securities trading data to clients triggering stop-loss sell orders, and not informing about the wrong information & compensating clients for losses thereafter. Hong Kong SFC: “The SFC’s disciplinary action arose from I-Access’s response to an internal system test conducted by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) on 6 April 2015. The system test resulted in test data in the form of simulated orders, trade and securities prices being transmitted to clients of HKEX’s market data system, including I-Access. The SFC found that I-Access in turn disseminated such data in its own system when they should have been disregarded. This resulted in the incorrect triggering of 27 stop loss sell orders by 12 clients and their executions on the following trading day. I-Access, however, did not take the initiative to promptly notify the affected clients of the incident and make appropriate compensation offers to them.” See below for Hong Kong SFC Statement:
“ Hong Kong SFC Fines I-Access Investors $76,000 for Transmitting Test & Simulated Securities Trading Data to Clients Triggering Stop-Loss Sell Orders, Did Not Inform & Compensate Clients “
Hong Kong SFC Fines I-Access Investors $76,000 for Transmitting Test & Simulated Securities Trading Data to Clients
14th March 2023 – The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has reprimanded and fined I-Access Investors Limited (I-Access) $600,000 for breach of the Code of Conduct after the Securities and Futures Appeals Tribunal (SFAT) upheld the SFC’s disciplinary action against it (Notes 1 & 2).
The SFC’s disciplinary action arose from I-Access’s response to an internal system test conducted by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) on 6 April 2015. The system test resulted in test data in the form of simulated orders, trade and securities prices being transmitted to clients of HKEX’s market data system, including I-Access (Note 3). The SFC found that I-Access in turn disseminated such data in its own system when they should have been disregarded. This resulted in the incorrect triggering of 27 stop loss sell orders by 12 clients and their executions on the following trading day.
I-Access, however, did not take the initiative to promptly notify the affected clients of the incident and make appropriate compensation offers to them. The SFC is of the view that I-Access was in breach of the Code of Conduct by failing to act with due skill, care and diligence, and in the best interests of its clients.
In deciding the disciplinary sanction, the SFC took into account that:
- this appears to be an isolated incident;
- I-Access has changed the programme design of its system since the incident to avoid recurrence of similar incident; and
- I-Access has an otherwise clean disciplinary record.
Notes:
- I-Access is licensed under the Securities and Futures Ordinance to carry on business in Type 1 (dealing in securities) regulated activities. It has now ceased carrying out any regulated activities.
- Code of Conduct for Persons Licensed by or Registered with the Securities and Futures Commission (Code of Conduct).
- HKEX launched the HKEX Orion Market Data Platform for its securities market (OMD-C) in September 2013. As stipulated in the “Interface Specifications of HKEX Orion Market Data Platform Securities Market and Index Datafeed Products (OMD-C)” (version 1.9), HKEX “may perform system testing on Saturdays, Sundays or days when OMD-C is not in operation. Clients should treat data transmitted via OMD-C on those days as non production data and disregard them.”
- Please see the SFAT’s determination for SFAT Application No. 5 of 2021 on its website.
Sign Up / Register
Caproasia Users
- Manage $20 million to $3 billion of assets
- Invest $3 million to $300 million
- Advise institutions, billionaires, UHNWs & HNWs
Caproasia Platforms | 11,000 Investors & Advisors
- Caproasia.com
- Caproasia Access
- Caproasia Events
- The Financial Centre | Find Services
- Membership
- Family Office Circle
- Professional Investor Circle
- Investor Relations Network
Monthly Roundtable & Networking
Family Office Programs
The 2024 Investment Day
- March 2024 - Hong Kong
- March 2024 - Singapore
- June 2024 - Hong Kong
- June 2024 - Singapore
- Sept 2024 - Hong Kong
- Sept 2024 - Singapore
- Visit: The Investment Day | Register: Click here
Caproasia Summits
- The Investment Summit
- The Private Wealth Summit
- The Family Office Summit
- The CEO & Entrepreneur Summit
- The Capital Markets Summit
- The ESG / Sustainable Investment Summit
