Anticipating Hong Kong Short Positions Reporting Rules, ConvergEx Updates OMS

The rules, set to be implemented in June, provide more stringent standards for weekly reporting of net short positions on Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed firms.

Agency broker and trading technology provider ConvergEx has announced it will add a reporting tool to its order management system, Eze OMS, addressing the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission's (SFC’s) new requirements surrounding disclosure of net short positions, set to come into force this June.

The solution will create reports of users' short sales of Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed companies as specified under the SFC regulation, automatically importing updated lists of those companies identified by the regulator, while clients using Eze Compliance will additionally be able to customize a rule to notify them when positions require disclosure.

The new rules direct firms to report those positions when, at close of trading on a Friday or other reporting day, they are valued higher than the lesser of either HK$30 million ($3.87 million) or 0.02 percent of the value of the total number of specified shares issued by the applicable listed company.

"We have always maintained that it is critically important for us to help our customers prepare for regulatory and compliance changes in a timely manner by providing robust and flexible solutions that streamline labor‐intensive regulatory reporting processes," says R.G. Manalac, managing director of Asia-Pacific consulting for ConvergEx's Eze Castle Software.