CLSA Premium Receives Resumption Guidance from SEHK

CLSA Premium (or "Company"), a Hong Kong-focused forex broker which shares on the Stock Exchange has been suspended from 9:00 a.m. on April 25, 2023​, published an update on the trading of its shares on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK).

According to the announcement, the brokerage received a letter from SEHK on May 12, 2023, setting out the following guidance for the resumption of trading in the Shares:

(i) demonstrate its compliance with Rule 13.24; and

(ii) inform the market of all material information for the Company's shareholders (the "Shareholders") and investors to appraise the Company's position.

The exchange required CLSA Premium to meet all Resumption Guidance, remedy the substantive issues causing its trading suspension, and fully comply with the Listing Rules to the Stock Exchange's satisfaction before trading in its securities is allowed to resume. To this end, the Company has the primary responsibility to devise its action plan for resumption. In addition, SEHK stated that it may modify or supplement the Resumption Guidance if the Company's situation changes.

Under Rule 6.01A(1) of the Listing Rules, SEHK empowered to cancel the listing of any securities that have been suspended from trading for a continuous period of 18 months. For CLSA Premium, if the Company failed to meet all Resumption Guidance by October 24, 2024, SEHK will recommend the Listing Committee to proceed with the cancellation of the Company's listing.

CLSA Premium stated in the announcement that it is taking actions to deal with the substantive issues that led to its trading suspension and hopes to resume its shares trading as soon as possible.

CLSA Premium has been hit for several times over the past years. Last August, the Company decided to suspend its operations in Australia​ due to "the ongoing losses suffered by the business in Australia and the uncertain future of such business". In September 2021, CLSA Premium New Zealand Limited, the derivatives trading services arm of CLSA Premium, fined $770K by the New Zealand's Financial Market Authority (FMA)​ for breaches of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act.