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From Matthias Knab, Opalesque Europe: In its first financial quarter of 2008-09, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) adopted a new approach to enforcement, offeringintermediaries found in breach a chance to take up good compliance practices ahead of severe penalties, according to a SFC press release obtained by Opalesque.

The SFC's Quarterly Report for April to June 2008-09 explains the new approach as a means to foster compliance on top of penalizing violators for misconduct. In respective agreements reached with the SFC, two ICEA entities and three Core Pacific-Yamaichi entities were committed to strengthening their compliance practices and to accepting severe penalties, if found to have repeated offences of the same nature within the next three years. In ICEA's case, revocation of licences would be the penalty.

Meanwhile, the SFC continued to adapt its regulatory regime to changing market circumstances, devoting efforts in particular to raising market efficiency while increasing investor education. The Quarterly Report outlines the measures that the organisation has adopted to facilitate market development.

"Given our role in promoting healthy growth in the market as well as policing it for orderly activities, we took steps to facilitate development of the breadth and depth of the industry," said Mr Martin Wheatley, the SFC's Chief Executive Officer. "These steps included streamlining the vetting of notices and advertisements of SFC-author......................

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