SFC

SFC (Securities and Futures Commission) supervises financial institutions in Hong Kong SAR under Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO — Cap. 571) & Securities and Futures (Financial Resources) Rules (FRR) and Securities and Futures (Client Money) Rules (Cap. 571I) & (Client Securities) Rules (Cap. 571H). Key statutory authorisation classes include: Type 1 & Type 2 (Dealing in Securities (Type 1) & Dealing in Futures Contracts (Type 2) — min. capital: HKD $5,000,000 minimum Paid-Up Share Capital (HKD $10,000,000 if providing securities margin financing) + HKD $3,000,000 minimum Liquid Capital.); Type 3 (Leveraged Foreign Exchange Trading — min. capital: HKD $30,000,000 minimum Paid-Up Share Capital + HKD $15,000,000 minimum Liquid Capital (HKD $5M/3M for approved introducing agents).); Type 4 & Type 9 (Advising on Securities (Type 4) & Asset Management (Type 9 — Traditional & Virtual Asset Funds) — min. capital: HKD $5,000,000 Paid-Up Share Capital + HKD $3,000,000 Liquid Capital (or HKD $100,000 Liquid Capital if restricted from holding any client assets).); Type 7 & AMLO VATP (Automated Trading Services (Type 7) & Virtual Asset Trading Platform (VATP) Operator — min. capital: HKD $5,000,000 minimum Paid-Up Share Capital + HKD $3,000,000 minimum Liquid Capital plus minimum 12 months of actual operating expenses held in liquid assets in HK.). Ongoing prudential supervision requires strict adherence to capital adequacy and liquidity buffers.

Under SFC's framework, investor protection is governed by Investor Compensation Fund (ICF — Administered by Investor Compensation Company Limited) with maximum coverage of HKD $500,000 per investor per default for securities or futures contracts traded on HKEX (and northbound Stock Connect) (Retail and non-institutional investors (institutional professional investors and off-exchange VATP spot crypto transactions are excluded from ICF; VATPs must maintain mandatory third-party custody insurance).). For client money and custody assets, supervised firms must comply with SFO Cap. 571I (Client Money Rules) & Cap. 571H (Client Securities Rules), performing client money must be paid into a segregated trust account at an hkma authorized institution in hong kong within one business day of receipt. with for vatps, 98% of client virtual assets must be held in cold storage by an associated entity (tcsp-licensed wholly owned subsidiary in hk) with hsm fips 140-2 level 3+ security..

SFC's digital-asset regime is structured around Dual SFO & AMLO Part 5B Virtual Asset Trading Platform (VATP) Licensing + Spot Crypto ETFs (In-Kind Creation) (Fully operational mandatory VATP licensing regime, retail access to large-cap tokens on licensed VATPs, and Asia’s first Spot Bitcoin & Ether ETFs with in-kind creation/redemption.). Custody and AML/CFT compliance obligations require: Immediate Travel Rule compliance under SFC AML/CFT Guideline Chapter 12; mandatory compensation insurance covering 50% of cold storage and 100% of hot storage assets.

Our database currently tracks 108 licence records referencing SFC (103 marked regulated or registered). To verify a counterparty at the primary source, open SFC's official public register (https://www.sfc.hk/en/), search by the exact reference number and legal entity name, and confirm that the firm's domain and permitted activities match its statutory authorisation.