Circular to Licensed Corporations and Associated Entities. Electronic Submission of Financial Returns

Transcription

1 SECURITIES AND FUTURES COMMISSION 8th Floor, Chater House, 8 Connaught Road Central, Hong Kong 香港中環干諾道中八號遮打大廈八樓 Our Ref: SFO/IS/011/ June 2008 Circular to Licensed Corporations and Associated Entities Electronic Submission of Financial Returns Effective date of new submission regime The legislative process of the Securities and Futures (Financial Resources) (Amendment) Rules 2008 ( FRR Amendment Rules ) was completed on 18 June The Amendment Rules, gazetted on 25 April 2008, will come into effect on 1 November A copy of the Amendment Rules is enclosed for your reference (Annex 1). The FRR Amendment Rules will require all Licensed Corporations ( LCs ) to submit their financial returns to the SFC electronically by means of an online communication system approved by the SFC using a revised 1 financial return template in Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with effect from 1 November For LCs that submit financial returns on a monthly basis, the first return to be submitted electronically under the new submission regime is the one for the position ended 31 October For LCs that submit their returns semi-annually, they should start the electronic filing for the December 2008 return. For the avoidance of doubt, the submission deadline remains unaffected whereby LCs have 21 calendar days to submit their financial returns. Modes of electronic submission Under the new submission regime, financial returns are required to be signed and submitted to the Commission electronically by a responsible officer or an officer approved to sign a return through one of the three supported modes as follows: Signed by using SFC e- Certificate 2 Signed by using Hongkong Post e-cert (Organisational) certificate Submitting via Internet (a) Supported - New Mode N/A Submitting via FinNet (b) Supported - New Mode (c) Supported - Existing Mode 1 The revised financial return template could be downloaded from SFC website in August A password-protected private label digital certificate obtained from the SFC. Website :

2 19 June 2008 Circular to Licensed Corporations and Associated Entities page 2 Preparatory work Technical requirements You should, as a matter of priority, ensure that your computers and network connections can meet with the baseline hardware and software specifications contained in Annex 2. Please contact our e-frr System Helpdesk hotline on (852) if you have any questions in this connection. It should be noted that submitting returns via FinNet using the Hongkong Post e-cert (Organisational) certificate is one of the three accepted modes and thus LCs already adopting such mode will not be affected (except that revised financial return template should be used) but they can switch to other modes of electronic submission if they so prefer. Other arrangements We plan to (a) Issue an invitation to all LCs by early August 2008 to invite responsible officers and/or officers approved to sign a return to apply for a SFC e-certificate; It is our intention to issue 2 SFC e-certificates to each LC but LCs may request for more on a need basis. (b) (c) Provide training and issue directions and instructions in August 2008; and Open the electronic Financial Resources Rules Returns System in September 2008 for LCs test run so that LCs can familiarise themselves with the new system at an earlier stage For other enquiries regarding the contents of this circular, please contact Ms Denise Chan on (852) Intermediaries Supervision Department Securities and Futures Commission

3 Annex 1 SECURITIES AND FUTURES (FINANCIAL RESOURCES) (AMENDMENT) RULES 2008 (Made by the Securities and Futures Commission under sections 145 and 397 of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571) after consultation with the Financial Secretary) 1. Commencement These Rules shall come into operation on 1 November Licensed corporations to submit returns to Commission (1) Section 56(1) of the Securities and Futures (Financial Resources) Rules (Cap. 571 sub. leg. N) is amended by repealing in the manner specified in subsections (5) and (6)(d), (e) or (f) (as the case may be), no later than 3 weeks after the end of the month concerned, a return, in the form specified by the Commission under section 402 of the Ordinance, which and substituting, in the manner specified in subsection (5) and no later than 3 weeks after the end of the month concerned, a return which is in the form specified by the Commission under section 402 of the Ordinance and signed in the manner specified in subsection (6), and. (2) Section 56(2) and (3) is amended by repealing in the manner specified in subsections (5) and (6)(d), (e) or (f) (as the case may be), no later than 3 weeks after the end of the period concerned, a return, in the form specified by the Commission under section 402 of the Ordinance, which and substituting, in the manner specified in subsection (5) and no later than 3 weeks after the end of the period concerned, a return which is in the form specified by the Commission under section 402 of the Ordinance and signed in the manner specified in subsection (6), and.

4 2 (3) Section 56(5) is repealed and the following substituted (5) For the purposes of this section, a licensed corporation shall submit a return referred to in this section to the Commission electronically by means of an online communication system approved by the Commission under section 58(7) for the purposes of this subsection.. (4) Section 56(6) is repealed and the following substituted (6) For the purposes of this section (a) a return referred to in this section shall be signed on behalf of the licensed corporation concerned by a responsible officer of the licensed corporation or another officer of the licensed corporation approved by the Commission under section 58(5)(e) for the purposes of this section, by way of attachment to the return of the digital signature or electronic signature of the responsible officer or other officer; and (b) the signature referred to in paragraph (a) shall (i) in the case of a digital signature, be supported by a recognized certificate, generated within the validity of that certificate and used in accordance with the terms of that certificate; or (ii) in the case of an electronic signature, be authenticated in accordance with such directions

5 3 and instructions for the use of the online communication system concerned as are published by the Commission under section 58(8).. (5) Section 56(6A) is amended by repealing (6)(d)(i)(A) and substituting (6)(b)(i). (6) Section 56(7) is amended by adding electronic signature ( 電子簽署 ) has the meaning assigned to it by section 2(1) of the Electronic Transactions Ordinance (Cap. 553);. 3. Approvals (1) Section 58(5)(e) is amended by repealing 56(5) and substituting 56(6). (2) Section 58(7) is amended (a) by repealing 56(6)(a) and substituting 56(5) ; (b) by repealing a secure online communication network and substituting an online communication system. (3) Section 58(8) is amended (a) by repealing a communication network and substituting an online communication system ; (b) by repealing details of the network and substituting directions and instructions for the use of that system. Martin WHEATLEY Chief Executive Officer, Securities and Futures Commission 21 April 2008

6 4 Explanatory Note These Rules amend the Securities and Futures (Financial Resources) Rules (Cap. 571 sub. leg. N) ( the principal Rules ) to require all licensed corporations to submit their financial returns to the Securities and Futures Commission ( the Commission ) electronically. 2. Section 2 amends section 56 of the principal Rules to require a licensed corporation to submit a financial return to the Commission electronically by means of an online communication system approved by the Commission, and to sign the return by way of attachment to the return of the digital signature or electronic signature of its responsible officer or of another officer approved by the Commission for the purpose. 3. Section 3 amends section 58 of the principal Rules to require the Commission to issue directions and instructions for the use of the online communication system approved by it.

7 Annex 2 Baseline Specifications of Computer System for e-submission of e-frr return In order to be able to support the e-submission of e-frr return using the SFC e-certificate, responsible officers and officers approved by the Commission to sign a return should ensure they are accessible to a computer system with the following baseline specifications: PC Hardware Requirement: IBM compatible personal computer; Pentium IV 2.0 GHz CPU or above; 100MB free hard disk space or above; 512MB system memory or above; USB 2.0 slot; and 10/100/1000BaseT Ethernet network interface card; PC Software Requirement: Microsoft Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista; Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or above or FireFox 2.0 or above; Microsoft Excel 2000 and/or 2003; and SUN Java Runtime Environment 1.3 or above; Network Connection Requirement: Broadband Internet connection (for submission through Internet); or FinNet Ethernet Link 1 service (for submission through FinNet). 1 FinNet Ethernet Link service is provided by FinNet. Please visit for more details