SFC licensing and compliance hints – May 2018

Conviction for providing false information

The SFC issued a press release on 11 May 2018 concerning an individual’s conviction for failing to disclose a criminal conviction in his SFC licence application. It is very important to ensure each statement is correct and complete before submission to the SFC as it takes inaccurate or misleading submission very seriously.

Licence applicants are expected to provide complete, true and correct disclosure of all information in their applications in order for the SFC to assess their fitness and properness. Convictions and regulatory sanctions must be disclosed, regardless of how old they are or whether they are “spent”.  

The same also applies to submitting cessation notifications for licensed individuals; the reason for ceasing to act for a licensed company has to be an accurate representation so the SFC can decide whether any follow up action is required. Both the employer and employee should ensure that the true reason for cessation of employment is accurately described in the notification to the SFC.