Authors: Carl Fernandes, Kishore Bhindi, Chong Liew, I-Ping Soong, Karen Lam, Clara Hackney

Virtually Certain: Government’s VA Policy Statement and SFC’s Circular on VA Futures ETFs

At the start of Hong Kong’s Fintech Week, the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau published a statement setting out the Hong Kong SAR Government’s policy stance and approach towards developing the VA sector and ecosystem in Hong Kong. On the same day, the Securities and Futures Commission issued a circular setting out the requirements which must be met for the SFC to consider authorisation applications for exchange traded funds over VA futures contracts for public offering in Hong Kong under the Securities and Futures Ordinance.