The chairman of HKSFPA says regulators should not simply apply traditional securities rules to virtu

Hong Kong Securities Leader Warns Against Misapplying Crypto Rules to Traditional Brokerage Accounts

A proposed rule requiring brokerage clients to pre-register bank accounts is drawing pushback. Chan Chi-wah, chairman of the Hong Kong Securities & Futures Professionals Association, says the approach may have borrowed logic from virtual asset regulation—where wallet address pre-approval makes sense—and applied it to traditional securities, where it doesn't.

Virtual assets need pre-approval because blockchain addresses make ownership hard to verify on the fly. But traditional securities already have safeguards like same-name account checks. A blanket cap on bank accounts, Chan argues, is unnecessary. Instead, he points to the EU framework: regulators should focus on beneficial ownership and suspicious transactions, not preemptive limits. His prescription? Stick to a risk-based approach, target abnormal flows (like layering), set clear same-name account standards, and lean into big data and AI for AML surveillance.