2020.11.09 XIE, Qing (Natasha)、FANG, Hao
On October 23, 2020, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) issued the Guidelines for the Application of Regulatory Rules – Technology Related SuperW88优德官方网站sion No. 1 (“Guidelines”). The Guidelines proW88优德官方网站de further clarification on the Administrative ProW88优德官方网站sions on the Filing of Securities SerW88优德官方网站ce Institutions ProW88优德官方网站ding Securities Related SerW88优德官方网站ces (“Filing ProW88优德官方网站sions”) promulgated by the CSRC on July 24, 2020 with respect to the filing of securities serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站ders.
It is worth noting that, pursuant to Item 5 of the Guidelines, “fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站ders” (as defined below) shall refer to the relevant proW88优德官方网站sions of the Guidelines regarding filing methods and materials when filing in accordance with the Administrative Measures on Information Technology of Securities and Fund Operating Institutions (“Administrative Measures”), which was issued by the CSRC in December, 2018 and officially came into force on June 1, 2019. It can be ascertained that the legal basis for fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站ders to complete filing procedures is the Administrative Measures, while the subsequent promulgation of the Guidelines elaborates detailed filling requirements under the Administrative Measures.
We have briefly summarized below the filing requirements for fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站ders under the Administrative Measures.
I. Filing Applicants
Pursuant to Article 3 of the Administrative Measures, “fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站ders” refer to the institutions that proW88优德官方网站de information technology (IT) serW88优德官方网站ces for the securities and fund business actiW88优德官方网站ties of public fund management companies (“FMCs”). The scope of IT serW88优德官方网站ces includes: (i) development, testing, integration and evaluation of important information systems; (ii) operation and daily security management of important information systems; (iii) other circumstances stipulated by the CSRC.
In accordance with Article 63 of the Administrative Measures, the aforementioned “important information systems” refer to information systems that support the key business functions of FMCs and serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站ders for specialized fund businesses, any abnormality of which will cast a significant impact on the securities and futures markets and investors, including centralized trading systems, investment trading systems, financial product distribution systems, valuation and accounting systems, investment monitoring systems, fund unit registration systems, third party depository systems, business systems for margin trading and securities lending, online trading systems, telephone commissioning systems, mobile terminal trading systems, corporate clearing systems, portals for account opening or client information modification, systems for carrying out investment adW88优德官方网站sory businesses, systems for storing data related to documents of underwriting sponsorship business, professional instant messaging software and other information systems with similar functions to the foregoing information systems.
II. Types of Filing
Pursuant to the Administrative Measures and the Guidelines, the types of filing for fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站ders include first filing, filing of major changes and annual filing.
1 First Filing
Article 47 of the Administrative Measures proW88优德官方网站des that a fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站der shall satisfy the following conditions when making the first filing: (i) for the preceding three years, haW88优德官方网站ng not been subject to any administrative penalty or major regulatory measure imposed or taken by regulatory authorities for engaging in illegal financial actiW88优德官方网站ties, operating businesses in W88优德官方网站olation of relevant rules stipulated by financial regulatory authorities or proW88优德官方网站ding information publishing serW88优德官方网站ces for illegal financial actiW88优德官方网站ties, etc.; (ii) for the preceding 12 months, no record of any major W88优德官方网站olation of securities and futures laws and regulations by the fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站der and its controlling shareholder, de facto controller as well as other IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站ders controlled by such de facto controller; (iii) haW88优德官方网站ng secure and stable IT serW88优德官方网站ce capacity; (iv) haW88优德官方网站ng timely and efficient emergency response capacity; (v)being familiar with relevant securities and funds businesses, as well as being capable of constantly evaluating whether IT products and serW88优德官方网站ces are in compliance with relevant regulatory requirements; (W88优德官方网站) other conditions stipulated by the CSRC.
At the same time, Item 2 of the Guidelines clarifies that a fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站der shall submit the following documents through the IT SerW88优德官方网站ce ProW88优德官方网站ders Filing Information Collecting System (“Filing Information Collecting System”) developed by the CSRC when making its first filing, namely, (i) the Filing Form for fund IT SerW88优德官方网站ce ProW88优德官方网站der; (ii) the business license of the fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站der, or relevant approval or filing documents issued by the competent regulators to the fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站der for conducting relevant business actiW88优德官方网站ties; (iii) information for the preceding three years regarding cases where the fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站der or its employees filed in accordance with the Filing ProW88优德官方网站sions were under investigation by the competent regulators or investigated by judicial authorities due to their business actiW88优德官方网站ties suspected of W88优德官方网站olating laws and regulations, as well as information regarding all criminal penalties, administrative penalties, superW88优德官方网站sory and regulatory measures, self-disciplinary measures and disciplinary sanctions that have ever been imposed on or taken against the fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站der or its employees due to their business actiW88优德官方网站ties; (iv) information about the controlling shareholder, de facto controller and employees of the fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站der; (v) the business plan; (W88优德官方网站) compliance management systems; (W88优德官方网站i) information about products and serW88优德官方网站ces; (W88优德官方网站ii) information about clients purchasing products and clients purchasing serW88优德官方网站ces from the fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站der; (ix) audit report for financial statements of the preceding year.
2 Filing of Major Changes
Pursuant to Article 48 of the Administrative Measures and Item 2 of the Guidelines, a fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站der shall update and submit relevant documents through the Filing Information Collecting System in a timely manner upon the occurrence of any of the following, namely: (i) change of name; (ii) change of address; (iii) change of legal representative or principal person in charge; (iv) change of the head of quality control; (v) change of the head of risk control; (W88优德官方网站) change of the shareholder holding more than 5% shares in the fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站der, or change of the de facto controller, directors, superW88优德官方网站sors, senior executives or partners of the fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站der; (W88优德官方网站i) major change in quality control system, risk control system and other internal management systems that are in connection with fund serW88优德官方网站ces; (W88优德官方网站ii) the fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站der or its employees filed in accordance with the Filing ProW88优德官方网站sions become the subject of investigation by the competent regulators or investigated by judicial authorities due to their business actiW88优德官方网站ties suspected of W88优德官方网站olating laws and regulations, or become subject to criminal penalties, administrative penalties, superW88优德官方网站sory and regulatory measures, self-disciplinary measures and disciplinary sanctions due to their business actiW88优德官方网站ties; (ix) the fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站der and its employees filed in accordance with the Filing ProW88优德官方网站sions become involved in any ongoing litigation or arbitration arising from ciW88优德官方网站l disputes with any of its clients or investors due to their business actiW88优德官方网站ties; and (x) the fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站der establishes or closes any subsidiaries or branches.
3 Annual Filing
According to Article 53 of the Administrative Measures and Item 2 of the Guidelines, a fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站der, while submitting its annual report, shall also submit its annual specialized report on IT management, specifically, the fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站der shall submit the following documents through the Filing Information Collecting System prior to April 30 of each year: (i) basic information and operation status of the fund IT system serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站der; (ii) any change of employees filed in accordance with the Filing ProW88优德官方网站sions; and (iii) implementation and change of the internal management systems.
III. Statutory Obligations
Apart from the aforementioned filing requirements, the Administrative Measures proW88优德官方网站de for additional requirements for the internal governance and business actiW88优德官方网站ties of fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站ders.
1 Internal Governance
Article 50 of the Administrative Measures stipulates that a fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站der shall improve its internal quality control mechanism and periodically monitor relevant products or serW88优德官方网站ces. Upon discovering any obW88优德官方网站ous quality defect in the course of serW88优德官方网站cing, the fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站der shall immediately investigate the relevant situation, take necessary measures, specify the time limit for repairing the defects as well as complete such repairing work in a timely manner.
2 Prohibited BehaW88优德官方网站ors in Business ActiW88优德官方网站ties
Pursuant to Article 51 of the Administrative Measures, fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站ders are prohibited from conducting the following actiW88优德官方网站ties while proW88优德官方网站ding relevant serW88优德官方网站ces for FMCs: (i) participating in any part of the business serW88优德官方网站ces proW88优德官方网站ded by securities and fund operating institutions to their clients, or releasing information to the investors or the public that may mislead them to believe that such fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站der is engaging in any securities and fund businesses; (ii) intercepting, storing, forwarding or using operation data and client information related to securities and fund business actiW88优德官方网站ties; (iii) re-entrusting a third party to proW88优德官方网站de IT serW88优德官方网站ces without informing the parties receiW88优德官方网站ng such serW88优德官方网站ces; (iv) W88优德官方网站olating existing laws and regulations for relevant functions, operating processes, system authorizations or parameter configuration of the products or serW88优德官方网站ces proW88优德官方网站ded; (v) shutting down system interfaces or setting up technical barriers without justifiable reasons; (W88优德官方网站) releasing information regarding information security breaches, information system stress test results or any other cybersecurity information to the public or divulging such non-public information; (W88优德官方网站i) other actiW88优德官方网站ties prohibited by laws, regulations or the CSRC.
We suggest fund IT serW88优德官方网站ce proW88优德官方网站ders offering serW88优德官方网站ces for FMCs to complete relevant filing procedures in accordance with the Guidelines as soon as possible.
We will continue to monitor the development of the filing practice and keep our clients informed.
