On 28 June 2019, the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (“SFC”) issued (i) a circular to intermediaries on ‘Remote onboarding of overseas individual clients’ (“the Circular”), and also (ii) a circular on corresponding amendments to paragraph 5.1 of the Code of Conduct for Persons Licensed by or Registered with the Securities and Futures Commission (“Code of Conduct”). The amendments to the Code of Conduct took effect on 5 July 2019. As technology advances, more and more business activities take place online. As such, SFC set out new approaches for opening accounts under such development.

In this publication, we refer to the SFC’s current published list of acceptable approaches, with an outline of the required steps for remote onboarding of overseas individual clients when licensed or registered persons engage in providing services online in securities or futures business.