The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has banned Masy Lo Mee Chi, a former client advisor of UBS AG Hong Kong Branch (UBS), for eight months, citing an incident of breaching client trust.
The ban had been imposed from August 29, 2020, and will in place up to April 28, 2021, Monday’s announcement detailed.
The market regulator detailed that Lo attempted to mislead a trust’s settlor in July 2017 into believing that the client had signed an amended request letter in connection with the purchase of a fund for the trust account. However, she appended a scanned version of the settlor’s signature without taking any approval and submitted it to the trustee.
Lo copied the signature from an earlier request letter signed by the settlor.
UBS previously appointed Lo to carry on Type 1 (dealing in securities) and Type 4 (advising on securities) regulated activities in the Hong Kong jurisdiction.
The regulator highlighted that Lo’s conduct was dishonest and questioned her integrity to work as a regulatory-licensed client advisor. The decision to ban her license for only eight months was also geared by her otherwise clean track record.
Not Tolerating Any Compliance Breach
Earlier this month, FortuneZ reported on the ban of a former account executive of China Tonghai Securities Limited (CTSL) for 18 months for his involvement in conducting over $573 million worth of unauthorized trades from clients’ accounts.
The Hong Kong regulator is also strictly maintaining its grip on the market and penalizing any market participants over illegal practices. In a report, it revealed that $479 million in fines were imposed on various regulatory breaches over the 2019-20 financial year.
