The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has updated its guidance on acceptable non-face-to-face (NFTF) account opening approaches, reflecting the growing digitalisation and automation in intermediaries’ business activities.

There are five acceptable NFTF account opening approaches, and the circular provides three updates to these approaches.

First, regarding certification services, a key update includes that certification services which are recognised by the Electronics Transactions Ordinance can applied for client identity verification for NFTF account opening. More convenient methods of remote onboarding are purportedly available to intermediaries.

Next, the SFC has also formally included iAM Smart, the Hong Kong government’s digital identity platform, as an acceptable method for NFTF client identity verification. Both iAM Smart and iAM Smart+ are now recognised for use in NFTF account opening for client identity verification.

In a further enhancement, the SFC has expanded the list of eligible jurisdictions for the remote onboarding of overseas individual clients. Based on the latest FATF mutual evaluation outcomes, 15 more jurisdictions such as France, Japan, India, Germany, and Brazil, have been newly added. The updated list is available on the SFC’s designated webpage.

The SFC reiterated the importance of sufficient cybersecurity controls to protect client accounts and systems from threats such as phishing and ransomware.

It also affirmed its ongoing commitment to monitoring technological developments and engaging with the industry to ensure identity verification methods remain secure, efficient, and effective.

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