SFC licensing and compliance hints: What should be your action items for 2018?

This is our list of hot compliance action items for licensed companies:

• Have the MICs, ROs and Compliance subscribed to the SFC Compliance Bulletin: Intermediaries?

• Has the company reviewed its existing internal control procedures and operational capabilities in managing funds and discretionary accounts to ensure that they meet the SFC’s expectation as per its circular of 15 September 2017?

• Has the company reviewed its management of conflicts of interests to ensure they meet the SFC’s expectation as per its circular of 24 November 2017?

• Has the company considered how the SFC’s recent FAQs on the Code of Conduct may affect its business operations?

• Has the company considered how the SFC’s recent FAQs on the Fund Manager Code of Conduct and the consultation conclusions may affect its business operations?

• Are the company's information security management and system security controls effective?

• Is the company satisfied with the performance of each of its service providers? What have they done by way of monitoring and due diligence to satisfy themselves; is there an adequate paper-trail of this? Has the company assessed and documented the reputational risk it bears in relation to each service provider / delegated service? Does the company have a contingency plan to cover each outsourced service?

• Is the company expecting any changes to any of its business activities? Has it considered whether those changes will impact its licence status, ability to comply with the SFC’s Financial Resources Rules, and internal control policies and procedures?

• Does your compliance manual need to be updated in view of the forthcoming regulatory changes, or changes to your business activities?

• Should your existing compliance monitoring plan be updated to cope with recent changes?

• Does your 2018 CPT plan cover the new regulatory changes (e.g. Fund Manager Code of Conduct)?

• Does the company need to schedule compliance refresher training for any topic (e.g. AML, issues identified in recent circulars)?

• How ready are you for an SFC onsite inspection?