The Red Flag Group, Asia's leading Compliance Advisory, Due Diligence & Technology firm, today launched its financial services practice to help banks and other financial institutions deal with the changing and increasingly complex regulatory landscape that has formed in the wake of the global financial crisis.

Around the world, financial institutions are facing greater scrutiny and regulation. In the UK, the government has proposed giving more power to the Financial Services Authority to preserve stability in the banking sector. Across the Atlantic, banks are also facing a shake-up to the banking system, proposed by the Obama Administration, which has been described as the biggest since the 1930s.

The race to regulate the financial services sector has been mirrored in Asia. Earlier this year, Hong Kong has launched a consultative study into proposed legislation that will tighten the customer due-diligence and record- keeping requirements for banks and other financial services companies. It will also empower regulators to supervise compliance, and set up criminal and supervisory sanctions in case of breaches in compliance. Across the border in China, there has also been increasing focus on financial irregularities.

Scott Lane, principal and chief executive officer at The Red Flag Group, said that it has become more important for financial services companies to understand and stay up-to-date with these regulatory changes that affect how they operate. The alternative is they run the risk of falling afoul of new laws. "We are seeing reforms in financial services sector across the globe because regulators have been made aware that systematic risks in banks can hurt economic sectors that they used to think were unrelated. In the US and UK, what started as weaknesses in the sub-prime mortgage market, brought on by imprudent lending practices, spread its contagion to other credit markets, and led us to the economic conditions that we are seeing today.

"Banks and other financial services companies are becoming increasingly concerned about this increasing regulation. They need to understand how it will impact the way they do business, and what the changes they need to stay compliant. This is something that we think our new financial services practice will be able to help them address.

"Because of the changing regulatory environment, not only do firms in the financial services sector run the risk of being liable to massive fines as well as criminal prosecution, there is also the danger of damage to a firm's reputation associated with a high profile investigation by a regulator. Regardless of whether a violation has actually taken place, sometimes the mere suggestion that a financial institution is being probed is all that is needed for its clients to lose confidence," Mr. Lane said.

The Red Flag Group's new financial services practice will include Michael Clement, a 17-year veteran of the financial services sector, with extensive experience in building compliance programs, internal audit, compliance, and risk management. Prior to his appointment, he was most recently an Associate Director with a global consulting firm in Hong Kong. Previously, he was Director of International Compliance for Charles Schwab, for whom he worked for over 15 years, based in San Francisco.

In addition, Perminder Kaur has been appointed as a Due Diligence Manager, Asia South. With a Bachelor of Law degree, Mrs Kaur has extensive experience in the field of Anti-Money Laundering, particularly conducting Due Diligence enquiries in Southern Asian countries. Prior to joining the firm, Mrs Kaur worked as a Compliance professional in a Hong Kong- based firm, which provides trust and company services. "Our Due Diligence practice continues to grow and extend into new markets, with a growing focus on India and South East Asia, so it is essential that we have professionals with backgrounds like Mrs Kaur's, with rich experience in regional due diligence and law, to provide clients with local intelligence," Mr Lane said.

About The Red Flag Group

The Red Flag Group is one of the world's leading independent compliance advisory & technology firms. Its main goals include helping companies develop and maintain efficient and effective compliance programs, and provide ethics and compliance-related due diligence, investigations, and audits. It also provides tailored technology solutions to help legal and compliance professionals manage a range of ethics and compliance issues, from conflicts of interest, to dealing with gifts and hospitality, and customized and comprehensive online learning solutions for complex issues on global compliance. Headquartered in Hong Kong, it also has offices in Singapore, Sydney, Silicon Valley, London, and Dubai. For more information, go to here

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Property developers in Hong Kong will have to comply with a new tighter set of rules governing the way uncompleted apartments are marketed and sold in the city.

The rules, which will take effect at the end of November, are aimed at improving transparency in the retail property market. As flat prices have soared in recent months, there were concerns that misleading sales tactics used by property developers contributed to the price surge.

In particular, in one instance, local property developer Henderson Land said in October that it had set a global record by selling an apartment for HK$88,000 per square foot. The unit in question was advertised as being located on the 68th floor, when the building was only 46 floors high. It is common practice for developers to skip floors which had numbers that were considered inauspicious in Chinese culture. In this case, Henderson omitted the floor numbers 13, 14, 24, 34, 40 to 59, 62, 64, 65, 67, 69, and 87.

While it is also common practice also for developers to include space set aside for common use in calculating how big an apartment being sold is, the revised regime will require developers to spell out the exact usable square footage of the uncompleted flats being sold. According to Bloomberg, typically as much as 20 to 30 per cent of new residential buildings are set aside for common use.

The new rules will also require developers to make floor numbering information in a more prominent manner in sales brochures, to ensure that buyers are not misled.

“The government is deeply concerned about some recent sales tactics in the first-hand uncompleted residential property market and confusing market information. The new measures will enhance the transparency of transactions of uncompleted first-hand properties and the clarity of property information,” a spokesperson for the Hong Kong government’s policy-setting Transport and Housing Bureau said.

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