Hong Kong’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SFC) has forbidden Mr Richard Charles Heyes, a former responsible manager, director of the basic business line, member of the Board of Directors and the head of the PAN-Asia shares of Citigroup Global Markets ASIA.
The ban will run until September 14, 2030.
Disciplinary action follows SFC’s previous SFC sanctions on CGMAL for serious regulatory violations and failures of internal control, allowing various commercial offices from cash businesses to spread incorrect indications of interest (IOIS) and make false statements to institutional customers in the 2008 2018.
The SFC has found that CGMAL’s violations and failures are due to Heyes’ failure to fulfill his duties as RO, Mic, and a member of the CGMal higher administration.
SFC’s survey revealed that Heyes should know that it was the practice of the CGMAL shares of commercial trading office to incorrectly send IOI to customers to raise customer questions.
Specifically, it failed to ensure that CGMal had implemented adequate and effective inspections for IOI, despite the fact that the limited review of CGMAL business activities conducted by SFC in 2014 had exposed other concerns to the company’s IOI process.
In addition, despite the fact that he received reports from his subordinates among the 2017 and 2018 customer complaints about the quality and accuracy of the CGMal IOIS, he did not take any step to investigate customer complaints and therefore did not have been a step to stop the dissemination of the wrong IOIS. His failures allowed the dishonest behavior of the office.
In mid -2014, Heyes attended a SFC Round Bank meeting, during which the SFC underlined the common issues found in customer facilitating activities, including the lack of clear customer consent. However, it failed to ensure that the CGMal had adequate internal guidelines and monitoring of compliance to check that traders had made pre-commercial disclosure of CGMAL’s main capacity and acquired the previous consent of customers before executing transactions.
In addition, the SFC found that Heyes should have learned from the emails addressed to him or promoted by his subordinates, traders who negotiated transactions facilitated as agencies to customers in order to obtain an additional market share. However, as it failed to take into account the relevant emails, the traders infringement did not take into account.
These findings show that Heyes has failed to ensure that CGMal has maintained appropriate behavior patterns and adheres to the appropriate procedures. His failures included the failure to ensure that there were adequate policies and systems controls to effectively monitor the IOI issuance and compliance with the consent and disclosure requirements of facility and that proper training had been provided to traders.
During the decision of disciplinary ratification, SFC took into account various factors, such as:
- The neglect of Heyes when unloading the responsibilities of management and supervision was severe, thereby allowing CGMAL internal control and regulatory violations for over 10 years.
- The fact that his behavior did not fall to the standards expected by a RO, a microphone, a member of the Board of Directors and a member of the higher administration of an authorized company.
- The need to send a clear and powerful message to the industry that the SFC will not tolerate a misconduct like Heyes. ” and
- Heyes’ collaboration with the SFC to accept disciplinary action and withdraw his appeal to the court of avoidance and contracts and his otherwise net disciplinary record.