CPL Seminar - 20180424

       

Jointly-organized with The Hong Kong Independent Non-Executive Director Association (HKiNEDA) (香港獨立非執行董事協會), the first CPL seminar was held on 24 April 2018.

The first topic covered in the CPL seminar was: “How to cope with increasingly heavy compliance costs and penalties for listed companies and licensed corporations’ professionals”, presented by Mr. Stephen Suen (孫文德大律師), Barrister-at-law and Honorary Chairman of HKICO.

Mr. Suen has over 35 years of experience in the areas of  regulation, management and compliance related work. He  was formerly the Director of Enforcement of SFC responsible to lead and supervise several teams of investigators comprising lawyers, accountants, ex-police and ex-ICAC officers to investigate market misconduct and all relevant offences under the Securities and Futures Ordinance.

As a practising barrister-at-law with regulatory and enforcement background and experience, his legal practice focuses on, inter alia, Listing Rules, Code of Conduct applicable to listed companies, licensed corporations (LC) and persons, and the proper way to handle SFC investigation plus CCB or ICAC investigation, SFO and corporate governance.

Mr. Suen’s speech covered five topics: (1) RO’s recent cases & mitigating factors; (2) Director’s recent cases & mitigating factors; (3) Cooperation with the SFC; (4) Enforcement trend, focus & Priorities and (5) General & practical advice. He quoted a number of court cases and explained the legal principles behind. He then summarized the principles  that form the basis of his practical advice for licensees to deal with investigations and regulatory charges.

The second topic of the CPL seminar was: “How insurance can help listed companies and licensed persons to relieve the increasing financial burden from investigations”  which was presented by our guest speaker Mr. David Chiu, an underwriter of Chubb Insurance Hong Kong Limited. Mr. Chiu introduced two insurance products: (1) Director and Officers (“D&O”) insurance which was designed to protect senior officers from claims made against them personally, specifically in the area of “wrongful act” committed in the performance of their official duties, and (2) Professional Indemnity (“PI”) insurance, which covers legal costs and expenses incurred in the defence, as well as any damages or costs that may be awarded by the court.