Recently Financial Times reported that SFC "has privately advised financial institutions they can implement US sanctions without automatically violating a tough national security law (NSL) imposed on the city by Beijing". Financial institutions include banks and institutional investors.
But where is HKMA? Has HKMA also privately advise banks under its supervision as such? Interestingly, HKMA's standpoint on US sanctions is subtly different from SFC's.
Can financial institutions rely on SFC's lip service? If financial institutions implement US sanctions and then their employees are charged with breach of NSL, could they tell the court that they were misled by the securities regulator? The answer is obvious.
The latest challenge is that 4 more China-Hong Kong officials have been added to OFAC's SDN list. Let's see if those financial institutions bravely implement the new round of US sanctions.
