On July 27, 2026, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) reprimanded and fined Bright Smart Securities International (H.K.) Limited (BSSIHK) HK$2.8 million for serious internal control lapses in monitoring and detecting client wash trades; SFC investigations confirmed that between November 1, 2023 and September 13, 2025, the firm permitted 1,021 pairs of wash trades covering 736 stocks and warrants via 615 client accounts, stemming from its overreliance on ineffective post-trade manual reviews before March 2024 and flawed pre-trade manual interception measures implemented thereafter—which only blocked repeat wash trades and failed to flag multiple violations by a single client in one day—constituting a breach of the SFC Code of Conduct and undermining market integrity, while the SFC took into account the firm’s repeated unrectified past deficiencies, subsequent remedial system upgrades, commitment to independent third-party verification and cooperation with the regulatory probe when imposing the sanction.
Sources: https://apps.sfc.hk/edistributionWeb/gateway/EN/news-and-announcements/news/doc?refNo=26PR117
Relative Circulars: https://apps.sfc.hk/edistributionWeb/api/news/openAppendix?lang=EN&refNo=26PR117&appendix=0