The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has banned Mr Christopher Ma Chun Leung and Mr Wong Man Chung from re-entering the industry for 10 years from 28 May 2014 to 27 May 2024 and two years from 30 May 2014 to 29 May 2016 respectively (Notes 1 & 2).
The disciplinary actions follow an SFC investigation which found that Ma, the supervisor of a program trading desk and Wong, a trader under Ma, had acted against the interests of clients and taken advantage of executions of orders of institutional clients in stocks traded on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (SEHK). It was found that Ma and Wong had cancelled the trades executed on the SEHK for the clients and re-filled the client orders with trades at stock prices less advantageous to the clients. The cancellations and reallocations involved over 2,500 trades in 20 stocks which caused the institutional clients to pay a total of about $8 million more for their shares in 2009 and 2010 (Note 3).
In addition, Ma provided false or misleading information to his employer and caused his employer to provide the same to the SFC during the SFC’s investigation. Ma sought to review the SFC’s decision at the Securities and Futures Appeals Tribunal (SFAT) but eventually withdrew his application before the SFAT hearing.
The SFC considers that the misconduct of Ma and Wong seriously calls into question their fitness and properness to be licensed.
Notes:
- Ma was licensed as a representative under the Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO) to carry on Type 1 (dealing in securities), Type 2 (dealing in futures contracts), and Type 7 (providing automated trading services) regulated activities and was accredited to Morgan Stanley Asia Limited, Morgan Stanley Hong Kong Futures Limited, and Morgan Stanley Hong Kong Securities Limited from July 1999 to May 2011. Ma is currently not a licensed representative.
- Wong was licensed as a representative under the SFO to carry on Type 1 (dealing in securities), Type 2 (dealing in futures contracts), and Type 7 (providing automated trading services) regulated activities and was accredited to Morgan Stanley Asia Limited, Morgan Stanley Hong Kong Futures Limited, and Morgan Stanley Hong Kong Securities Limited (collectively Morgan Stanley) from June 1995 to November 2011. Wong is currently not a licensed representative.
- Morgan Stanley reported Ma’s and Wong’s conduct to the SFC and returned $8 million in cash or commission credit to clients.
- A copy of the Statement of Disciplinary Action in relation to the matter is available on the SFC website.