BoCom International fined as SFC widens clampdown

Bank of Communications International Asia became the latest bank ensnared in a widespread clampdown on Hong Kong IPO sponsors on Wednesday, when the securities regulator slapped it with a HK$15 million $1.93 million fine.

The fine related to the bank’s role as a sponsor on the mooted IPO of China Huinong, a lender in Jiangsu province that focused on small and medium-sized enterprises and individual borrowers.

The Securities and Futures Commission SFC, Hong Kong’s securities market regulator, said in a statement on Wednesday that the punishment related partly to shortcomings in due diligence on the guarantors of some of these loans.

...