Background The Limited Partnership Fund bill will take effect on 31 August 2020, thereby becoming the Limited Partnership Fund Ordinance (“the Ordinance”). The objective of the Ordinance is to sharpen Hong Kong’s competitive edge on asset and wealth management and to diversify Hong Kong’s fund structures to encourage fund formation in Hong Kong to meet the fund industry’s changing needs.
The brand of the Big 4 in the accounting industry must be well known, but this is not the case in the legal sector. But in fact, in 2018, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and Ernst & Young (EY) have actively expanded their legal teams in Hong Kong. In the same year, it was reported that Deloitte also opened a law firm with
Any lawyers or other professionals who have been involved in civil proceedings in common law jurisdictions should be familiar with the discovery process. To put in simply in Chinese, discovery means disclosure. In the whole civil proceedings, it is the procedure for one party to disclose to the other party (or parties) and the court the evidence he possesses which
In the past decade, the emergence of a new business model in the global legal services industry has presented a disruptive challenge to the traditional legal service model. This new model is called New Law. The rise of New Law can be traced back to 2008. After the global financial crisis, many in-house legal departments of Wall Street big names
Jiayuan Plunge Highlights the Loophole in Share Pledge Disclosure Jiayuan International is a property developer based out of Jiangsu of Mainland China. It was founded in 2003 and listed on the Main Board of Hong Kong in 2016. Before its recent share price plunge, it has a market cap of more than HK$30 billion. On 17 January this year, Jiayuan’s
To meet the needs of the innovation and technology (I&T) sector in getting talent, the Hong Kong SAR announced on 8 May it will roll out a Technology Talent Admission Scheme (TechTAS) to provide a fast-track arrangement for the admission of overseas and Mainland research and development talent. Successful technology companies and institutes will be given quotas for bringing in
唐漢博為中國公民但在香港居住。在2016年3月香港證監會就其買賣中國鋁業股票的交易展開調查，在調查過程中, 港證監發現唐漢博和他太太在買賣其他兩間香港上市公司中有可能違反香港的《證券及期貨條例》及《收購合併守則》。與此同時，中國證監會也就唐漢博及另一人因買賣一家上海上市公司的股票而涉嫌擾亂市場的行為進行調查。 2016年6月，中國證監會發函給香港證監會請求提供協助。在收到中國證監會的請求後，香港證監會向裁判官成功申請搜查令，並在進行搜查時，香港證監會的調查員在唐漢博位於香港的住宅內檢取了手提電腦、手提電話以及相關檔。 在申請搜查令時，香港證監會僅告知裁判官該搜查令旨在調查違反香港法律及監管守則的行為，並未披露中國證監會的調查情況，亦沒有提及中國證監會對唐漢博及所獲材料的關注。但是在執行搜查時，香港證監會的調查員曾試圖讓中國證監會的辦案人員與唐漢博通話, 並向中國證監會的辦案人員及時報告被檢取的材料及在查獲電腦內的資料。 搜查結束後，中國證監會向香港證監會發出了數封請求協助函。香港證監會隨後根據請求將所需求的材料（其中包括搜查所獲材料）交給了中國證監會。2017年3月10日，中國證監會根據早前發出的通知召開了聽證會，當中提及了該搜查及香港證監會在搜查中所檢取的材料。中國證監會最終決定處罰唐漢博及其他涉案人，合共罰款及沒收12億人民幣(見http://www.csrc.gov.cn/pub/zjhpublic/G00306212/201703/t20170310_313477.htm; http://www.csrc.gov.cn/pub/zjhpublic/G00306212/201703/t20170310_313477.htm) 。 12億人民幣的罰款不可能說不巨大，但奇怪的是唐漢博似乎沒有挑戰中證監的裁決，卻入稟香港高等法院申請司法覆核裁判司向港證監頒發搜查令的合法性。唐漢博的理據是，港證監在申請搜查令時沒有向法院如實披露其目的是協助中證監的調查。唐漢博顯然並不知道，港證監 在收到中證監的要求前已經對其展開調查。港證監的回應是，港證監本身在香港法例下就有權因應境外監管機構的請求而展開調查，亦有權向境外監管機構提供搜查得到的檔，所以根本無需向法院隱瞞。香港高等法院最終接納港證監的辯解，認為港證監根本沒有必要隱瞞。 根據香港《證券及期貨條例》第186條的規定，香港證監會在適當的情況下有權向香港以外的其他監管機構（例如中國證監會）提供調查協助。香港證監會亦經常據此協助外地的監管機構進行調查。 本案確認，即使香港證監會本來因其調查而獲取材料，香港證監會其後亦可將該等材料轉交給中國證監會。 隨著滬港通和深港通交易量的不斷上升，香港證監會與中國證監會的合作將繼續增加。 在一篇2017年6月發佈的新聞稿中(http://www.csrc.gov.cn/pub/newsite/jcj/gzdt/201708/t20170821_322442.html )，中國證監會披露了自2014年11月滬港通實施以來，該會已與香港證監會進行了365項跨境執法合作。唐漢博的案件也進一步證實了香港證監會與中國證監會在相互協助調查方面日漸緊密的合作。
After the Hong Kong Stock HKEX (HKEX)’s rejection of Alibaba’s listing application because of its dual class share structure (also known as Weighted Voting Rights structure, “WVR”) in 2014, the issue as to whether Hong Kong should admit WVR companies to listing has aroused great controversies. Subsequently, the top financial officials in the special administrative region had expressed tremendous regret,
The Year 2017 has proven to be a turbulent year for Sino-Australian relationship, which witnessed not only the downfall of some pro-Chinese politicians amid scandals of taking illicit funding from Chinese businessmen in Australia, but also the tabling of the highly controversial counter-espionage and foreign interference laws which evidently aim at forestalling China’s perceived infiltration into Australia’s politics. This trend
From 1 March 2018, companies incorporated in Hong Kong, except listed companies, are required to keep a significant controller register at their registered offices. This article will give a brief introduction of the newly enacted Division 2A, Part 12 of the Companies Ordinance, cap. 622 relating to the significant controller register, and their major implications and take-aways. Application The new
