WHILE Hong Kong has been busy polishing its image and congratulating itself on its first conviction in an insider dealer case, financial abuses of another kind have been moving along at speed.
Recent calls by Hong Kong financial advisers to introduce and enforce industry regulations highlight a serious lack of protection for investors.
The concerns in the industry about the deficient standards are grave.
In an advanced economy, a system which allows just about anyone with enough money to invest in a brass plate to declare himself a financial adviser must be wrong.
As Hong Kong matures ever more into a middle class society, planned saving will increase. It is simply not tenable to allow investment recommendations to be based on the amount of commission paid to the adviser, rather than the amount of returns the investor can expect.
Reputable advisers lay the blame for the spread of unacceptably low standards with the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC).
While not rejecting their claims outright, the SFC insists that new regulations would only be considered if an obvious need was demonstrated.