CHALLENGE Forex Investment, Ltd, is the latest company to receive a licence for leveraged foreign exchange trading from the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC).
It was licensed last month, bringing the SFC-approved traders to 17.
Licences were being granted in batches but no date had been set for approving 32 outstanding applications, said Richard Yin Ying-neng, SFC's senior manager, intermediaries division.
Fifteen licences were granted in December, two months after the introduction of the Leveraged Foreign Exchange Trading Ordinance, Mr Yin said.
'Although we were in a position to approve the first application before December, we decided against doing so to curb speculation that the first registered trader would be in a privileged position,' he said.
'Others were worried that the first SFC-endorsed trader would suffer a competitive disadvantage by being subject to legislation.' The SFC received 49 applications for company licences and more than 2,400 from their representatives.
