Hong Kong sponsor representatives are now required to handle no more than 5 orders at the same time.

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission has set a “red line” on the number of active projects that sponsor representatives can promote at the same time. Reporters learned that regulators have explicitly required that signed-off sponsor representatives must not simultaneously promote more than 6 active projects, that is, a maximum of 5. An investment-banking insider confirmed that, at present, the number of deals that sponsor representatives can take on at the same time has been tightened to 5. This move directly targets the previous chaos in which some sponsor representatives “held multiple posts.”

Reporters learned that as of the end of last year, among a certain sponsor institution, the most active key personnel participated simultaneously in 19 projects—10 projects participated in under the role of “signing principal personnel,” and 9 projects participated in as “transaction team members.” At the same time, they could only take on a maximum of 5 orders.

Regarding market rumors that “Hong Kong listed sponsor representatives face limits on the number of projects they can take on,” reporters, after verifying through multiple channels, learned that the relevant regulatory requirements have been gradually implemented. A Hong Kong investment-banking insider told reporters that the current regulators’ focus is mainly on the level of signed sponsor representatives, requiring that the number of active projects they promote simultaneously must not exceed 6, that is, a maximum of 5. A senior executive at a mainland Chinese investment bank also told reporters that the current requirement is that each sponsor representative can only simultaneously undertake the listing projects of up to 5 companies.

(First Financial)