Hong Kong see no changes to shareholder warnings after MSCI move: SFC

[HONG KONG] Hong Kong's securities regulator has no plans to change its system to warn investors of companies that have a high concentration of shareholders after MSCI Inc's move to exclude those shares from its global indices, the head of the regulator said on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters at the regulator's annual conference, Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) Chief Executive Ashley Alder said MSCI's decision was entirely independent.

"The purpose of the warning is simple, to alert minority investors that those companies could see untoward price movements," Mr Alder said. "Whether MSCI or any other index chooses to take that into account is entirely for them to decide and we would not then create a new activity for the SFC to decide that because of the index's decision, which are independent, whether or not to issue a concentration warning in the first place or whether to withdraw them."

MSCI said on Feb 1 it will exclude from its global indices Hong Kong stocks that have been warned by the SFC over their high concentration of shareholders, potentially risking the deletion of 18 stocks from indexes.

REUTERS