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Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission has reprimanded and fined Ninety One Hong Kong HK$1.4 million ($170,000) for dealing in futures contracts without the required licence. 

The regulator said in a statement yesterday that between April 2014 and January 2020, NOHK executed 4,864 trades in futures contracts for portfolios managed by its three overseas affiliates without the required licence.

In deciding the sanction, the SFC took into account that there was no evidence that the firm’s failure was deliberate or intentional, and there was no evidence that clients lost money because of the activity.

NOHK reported the incident to the SFC shortly after identifying the suspected breach and ceased its futures trading activities thereafter; and it cooperated with the SFC in resolving the SFC’s concerns. It has an otherwise clean disciplinary record.