HKMA & SFC Joint Circular on SPIs: What does it mean to financial institutions?

The joint circular released on 28 July 2023 by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) is a much anticipated and welcomed development in the ongoing effort to secure Hong Kong’s place as a pre-eminent global wealth management centre.

It was standing room only at PWMA’s event on Monday, featuring speakers from both regulators joining a deep dive into the streamlined approach for compliance with suitability obligations when dealing with Sophisticated Professional Investors (SPIs) who have sufficient capital and knowledge or experience.

After Clara Hackney and Natalie Lam from Linklaters provided an overview of the new SPI regime, our panel of speakers, including Lawrence Cheung, Alan Au and Kevin Sham from the HKMA, and Iris Chow and Kenneth Choi from the SFC along with PWMA’s Peter Stein as the moderator, patiently answered questions for the remainder of the 1.5 hours on how the new SPI framework should be understood and applied. The importance of this topic was evidenced by a full house of over 150 in-person attendees and 100 attendees through Zoom.

Thank you to Credit Suisse for hosting us in your Auditorium for this event!

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