Following the joint multisectoral control of illegal cross-border securities activities of the csrc and the issuance of a local regulatory circular by the csrc, large chinese-owned banks and local front holders have substantially tightened the threshold for opening cross-border securities accounts for mainland investors. How is this chain of strong regulatory requirements implemented on the front line of hong kong? In a recent visit to the daily economic news (hereinafter referred to as " every journalist " ), journalists have found that the specific regulatory rules for the current period of centralization of the industry have not yet been completely clarified, resulting in varying scales and varied provisions in the practice of different issuers and banks。
On 1 june, each of the most densely populated west kowloon railway stations, tsim sha tsui, visited by journalists, found that a number of small and medium-sized voucher stores were crowded with investors from the interior, and hsbc banks that were now able to accept online opening applications were almost crowded with mainland investors, but needed to sign the relevant funding statements。
In addition to portfolio investment, the way in which cross-border insurance compliance is carried out is of concern to policy-holders in the interior。
In response, the hong kong insurance regulatory authority (hereinafter referred to as the hong kong insurance supervisory authority) responded on 1 june to each journalist's statement that the hong kong insurance supervisory authority and relevant mainland ministries had been in close contact to communicate on regulatory issues, including cross-border sales. Under the current legislation, the entire sales process of life insurance in hong kong must take place in hong kong, and licensed insurance intermediaries in hong kong are not allowed to take over insurance services in hong kong。
"30 days of cash" for small and medium-sized coupons and "closure" for the head platform
Despite continued tightening of regulations, large numbers of mainland investors have recently come to open accounts in jiangxi and the south-west, and many have arrived by air。
On each occasion, journalists visited hong kong and found that the two hong kong issuers of surplus and rich securities were in opposition to each other at the west kowloon station, and that the door shop was almost filled by mainland investors, and the staff members were busy checking information and explaining the rules for opening accounts. There are also small and medium-sized voucher dealers who “rail at the entrance of nearby banks” who claim to be able to apply directly on the internet using mainland id cards and open accounts the same day or the next。
Fortune stores at the west kowloon high station exit are surrounded by inland investors for online opening applications. Source: every reporter
When journalists consulted as mainland investors, the staff of both voucher shops indicated that they could open their accounts on the application line only with mainland id cards and related information, the results of which would normally be communicated by mail one to two working days. Staff indicated that, at present, there were no bank accounts in hong kong that could be opened and that, as long as the information entered was true, there would normally be no non-compliance. However, in response to subsequent funding requirements following the opening of accounts, the terms of the voucher firm were significantly tightened, with staff claiming that funds were to be transferred within 30 days of opening。
However, behind the “low-threshold” of these small and medium-sized coupons, the requirements in practice often change and many investors are surprised. For example, when mainland investors (alias) wanted to open accounts in surplus securities at the end of may, they were told that a paper version of the hong kong bank's permit was required to open accounts。
According to publicly available information, usmart has surplus securities (hong kong, china) and surplus securities (singapore) under the umbrella of the proximate shareholders are the zheng clan of one of the “four hong kong families”. At the beginning of last year, the zheng family company zhou dafu founded (hk00659) announced the acquisition of 43. 93 per cent of the usmart interest at a cost of approximately hk$ 1 billion. Rich securities, on the other hand, are local hong kong companies that are privately established, claiming to be more than 40 years old。
The volatility and swing of the opening clauses for small and medium-sized vouchers is the true picture of the normalization of the storm in cross-border securities. On 22 may, the csrc announced that the illegal cross-border exhibition of tiger brokers (nz) limited, freeway securities international (hong kong) ltd. And longbridge securities (hong kong) ltd. Had violated our securities fund futures laws and regulations, disrupted market order and must be combated with determination. In accordance with the relevant provisions, the cvm shall decide to confiscate all the proceeds of the violation of the law of the tiger, the rich and the subjects concerned, both within and outside the long bridge, and shall impose severe penalties in accordance with the law. On the same day, the cvm issued a circular stating that it had found deficiencies in the opening of local securities brokerage houses。
With such a strong industry concentration, the long bridge securities app has now suspended the opening of new accounts, claiming that the system is being upgraded, and the freeway securities tsim sha tsui gate has made it clear to journalists that it is not possible to open new accounts with a mainland identity card alone and requires hong kong identity card, a temporary hong kong identity card or a legal certificate of identity abroad。
Small and medium-sized coupons, such as those located near the tsim sha tsui subway station, are in large rows compared to “full-scale gates” for front-line dealers. Since the opening of securities accounts in hong kong by former mainland investors usually requires the opening of hong kong bank cards to transfer funds, this has created a picture of a “one-stop account” in a region surrounding multiple securities stores, such as the rich path, the rich and the rich, the starbucks and the scums bank, among others。
On this opening street, the large chinese-owned banks, while tightening their services to those who only hold mainland id cards, still have some of the currently relaxed foreign-owned banks that have become an intensive influx of mainlanders. At the hong kong hsbc bank site in tsim shao, a number of investors with mainland identification cards or hong kong/australia passes crowded in the lobby to apply for online openings, including mainland investors speaking in the southwest。
A mainland investor who had just completed the hsbc online account opening application and the registration of his account signature told journalists that he had flown from hangzhou. Another female investor in the crowd came specifically from shanghai, where she laughed at the journalist, “i came from shanghai, by plane, and i played”。
New bank openings are required to sign a statement of source of funds, and the full cross-border insurance process is restricted to “in hong kong”
For example, large chinese banks such as the bank of china (hong kong), the bank of commerce and industry of china (asia), and the china construction bank (asia), unlike foreign-owned banks and some chinese internet banks, previously opened accounts in a cumbersome manner, with low pass rates for online applications, even when online applications are made, there is a need for a face-to-face review of subbank sites。
At the end of may, mainland investor zhang zhang zhang (alias) ran from the long triangle to hong kong to try to open bank accounts and voucher accounts. He made three appointments to large chinese-owned banks, all of which were refused to open accounts。
The “card-point” effect of the off-line audit became more pronounced after the current round of policy was fully tightened. Although the online application of zhang zhang was approved by the three large chinese-owned banks, it was rejected at the end of the line。
In addition, the hong kong financial authority (hereinafter referred to as the hong kong monetary authority) issued a compliance circular to all registered institutions on 22 may. The circular explicitly requires the major institutions to carry out a three-month-long internal overhaul of the opening records from january 2023 to the present, and to carry out serious checks on the personal investment accounts opened using suspicious or forged documents. In the case of inland investors interested in opening new investment accounts, the registered institution must obtain a written statement from the client confirming that the investment funds come from legal sources outside the mainland and that the accounts have not been closed or suspended by other licensed institutions for the use of suspicious or forged documents。
The online application information received by the hsbc bank of hong kong revealed that mainland investors, when applying for an account, would pop up a specific document entitled " opening of an investment account statement (only for mainland chinese investors) " , which could be continued only if it was checked and confirmed. The statement deals mainly with sources of financing, authenticity of documents and record-keeping, and the last one is “observation of capital controls in the mainland of china: hsbc may close its investment accounts if it confirms, consents to and becomes aware that its sources of funding are subsequently found to be illegal or violate any capital regulations in the mainland of china”. This means that even if an investor succeeds in opening an account, the sword of financial compliance remains high。
In addition to strong regulation of banking and portfolio investment, the issue of life insurance, which is another major source of cross-border asset allocation, is also of concern for compliance with the sales and insurance processes。
