The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has reprimanded and fined Freeman Commodities Limited, now known as Arta Global Futures Limited, HKD 3.4 million for failures to comply with anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) and other regulatory requirements between June 2017 and December 2018. It also suspended Mr Li Chun Kei, a former responsible officer, managing director and manager-in-charge of a key business line, for four months from 20 June 2025 to 19 October 2025. The SFC found that the firm conducted no due diligence on customer supplied systems used by 89 clients to place orders, leaving it unable to properly assess and manage money laundering and terrorist financing and other risks linked to those systems. It also failed to maintain effective monitoring to identify deposits into six client accounts that were inconsistent with clients’ declared financial profiles, and lacked effective ongoing monitoring to detect suspicious trading patterns, including frequent high volumes of trades and instances where the same client placed buy and sell orders for the same futures contracts in the same second at the same price. In setting sanctions, the SFC cited the seriousness of the monitoring and control failures, deterrence, otherwise clean disciplinary records, and Arta’s financial position and cessation of business, noting it would otherwise have imposed a HKD 9 million fine.

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