HK regulator steps up efforts against IPO misconduct

Hong Kong, the world's second-largest market for new listings this year, is planning to step up its efforts to police misconduct by sponsors of initial public offerings.

The Securities and Futures Commission will bring more cases against IPO sponsors, or financial institutions that sign off on listings, Thomas Atkinson, the regulator's executive director of enforcement, said on Wednesday at a conference in the city.

The SFC is boosting its supervision of new listings amid a spike in complaints against publicly traded companies in recent years. Inexplicably high valuations, excessive shareholding concentrations and trading volumes that collapsed after some IPOs were among problems highlighted by the SFC's Chief Executive Officer Ashley Alder earlier this week.