Background:

To enhance market surveillance capabilities and maintain market integrity, the Securities and Futures Commission (“SFC”) has introduced the Hong Kong Investor Identification Regime (“HKIDR”).

Once implemented, all securities trades placed on, or off-exchange trades obligated to be reported to, the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited ("SEHK") must be tagged with a client identifier and the corresponding identification details must be provided to the SEHK.

For further information, refer to the SFC website.

Compliance requirements:

To comply with the HKIDR obligations, all relevant SFC licensed corporations and registered institutions (“RRI”) are required to assign a Broker-Client-Assigned-Number (“BCAN”) to each client of theirs with capabilities to trade securities on the SEHK.

From the 20^th of March 2023, RRIs are required to provide the SEHK with the clients’ identification data (“CID”) and the corresponding BCAN. All SEHK securities orders will be tagged with the BCAN number to enable the SEHK & SFC to identify the end beneficiary.

What client identification data (“CID”) is provided to SEHK?

Under HKIDR, the following identification data must be provided to the SEHK for any clients with SEHK trading permissions in place.

How can clients opt out from their CID being provided to SEHK?

Clients can opt out of sharing their CID under the HKIDR by requesting the removal of their relevant trading permissions. Once removed, existing positions can continue to be held or closed without the clients BCAN being tagged to the orders or CID being shared with the exchange.

However, before trading permission can be removed, clients must close any short positions or stock options that could result in a short stock position as buying in the positions requires a BCAN & CID submission.

Which trading permissions are impacted?

The new regime concerns all securities listed or traded on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (“SEHK”) and affects the following trading permissions:

• Hong Kong Stocks
• Hong Kong Stock Short Selling
• Hong Kong Stock Options
• Hong Kong Bonds
• Hong Kong Warrants

How will existing Interactive Brokers Clients be impacted?

• In preparation for HKIDR, all individuals with an Interactive Brokers Hong Kong Ltd account, and any of the above trading permissions in place, will be requested to confirm in Client Portal if they wish to retain their trading permissions under the new requirements.
• Clients that fail to provide a confirmation by 9^th of March 2023 will have their impacted trading permissions removed to prevent their identification details being shared unwillingly. If trading permissions are removed, clients can request the permissions be added back at any time via the Settings > Account Settings > Trading Permissions menu item in the Client Portal.
• Clients requesting to remove their impacted trading permissions that are holding an open short stock position, or stock option position that could lead to a short stock position, will need to close the positions by the cutoff date communicated to avoid them being closed on their behalf at the prevailing market price. Long positions can continue to be held or close without CID being shared with SEHK.
• The HK Client Agreements and Disclosures has been updated to accommodate the HKIDR requirements:
  • HK Client Agreement
  • HK Risk Disclosure
  • HK Acknowledgement

Disclaimer:

The above information is provided for convenience. IBKR does not guarantee the information for either accuracy or completeness. There may be subsequent changes to the HKIDR and clients should refer directly to the SFC website for more information: https://www.sfc.hk/en/Rules-and-standards/Investor-Identification-and-OTC-Securities-Transactions-Reporting