The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has prohibited Mr Poon Kin Lung, a former account executive of Phillip Securities (Hong Kong) Limited, from re-entering the industry for two years from 15 December 2016 to 14 December 2018 over breaches of the SFC’s Code of Conduct.
The SFC found that from 1 January 2014 to 28 June 2014, Poon had effected transactions for two of his clients without obtaining the proper authorization required under the Code of Conduct. Although the clients had given Poon a degree of discretionary authority to conduct trades in their accounts, Poon did not have their written authorization to operate their accounts on a discretionary basis, and there were uncertainties as to the scope of the authority given to him.
Poon’s conduct was also in breach of Phillip’s internal policies which did not permit him to operate the clients’ accounts on a discretionary basis.
The SFC further found that Poon had received order instructions from one of these two clients and another client via WhatsApp and mobile phone, but he had failed to keep a proper record of their instructions in accordance with Phillip’s internal policies.
The SFC considers that Poon had failed to act with due skill, care and diligence in performing his duties as a licensed representative and to meet the standards required of him under the Code of Conduct. As a result, his fitness and properness as a licensed person has been called into question.