Forwin Securities Group Limited (“Forwin Securities”) has always adhered to the principle of loving the world and cherishing resources. It is our mission to strive to contribute to the environmental protection and to support the reduction of paper consumption for the sake of natural resources and ecological environment protection. Therefore, since February 11, 2019, Forwin Securities will charge a monthly fee of HK$150 to each clients who chooses to receive the statements by post. This monthly fee is charged on per account basis. Forwin Securities hopes to encourage the clients to opt for receiving statements by email. Let’s contribute to the environmental protection and work for a sustainable world together.

If you have any questions, please contact your account executive or call our customer service hotline at (852) 2895 9991.

Commission and Fees

Electronic Trading

1. How to operate internet or mobile app trading?

For more information on the operation of online trading, you may download the “Online Trading and Security Token User Manual” for details.
For more information on the operation of mobile trading , you may download the “Mobile Apps trading User Manual” (Chinese Version Only) for details.

Common Reporting Standard (CRS)

2. What is the Common Reporting Standard (CRS)?

On 22 June 2016, the Hong Kong Legislative Council has passed The Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 3) Ordinance 2016 and the Common Reporting Standard (“CRS”) will be effective on 1 January 2017. The CRS is an information-gathering and reporting requirement for financial institutions in participating countries, to help fight against tax evasion and protect the integrity of tax systems. The financial institutions in participating countries must comply with it.

In accordance with the requirements of the CRS, the tax authorities require financial institutions to collect and report certain information about their clients’ tax status. Therefore, Forwin Securities Group Limited (“Forwin Securities”) has to collect and report the following information of the clients:

• Name
• Address
• Place of birth (for individual and controlling person(s) only) *
• Date of birth  (for individual and controlling person(s) only) *
• Country(ies) of tax residence
• Taxpayer identification number(s) (TIN) *
• Place of registration/incorporation (for entities only)
• Entity type (for entities only)
•  Type of controlling person for specific entity type (for controlling persons only)

* It does not apply in all participating countries and is subject to local law requirements.

About tax report

3. What information needs to be reported？

The CRS seeks to ascertain the tax residency of the clients of the financial institutions. Under the CRS, financial institutions are required to identify the clients who appear to be tax resident outside of the country in which they hold their accounts and products. The financial institutions have to report certain information to their local tax authorities and such information may be shared with the tax authorities in which the clients are tax residents.

Tax residency

4. How to define tax residency?

It depends on where the client lives and the actual circumstances. Please contact a professional tax advisor or check the OECD website: http://www.oecd.org/tax/automatic-exchange/crs-implementation-and-assistance/tax-residency/ for more details on how to determine the tax residency.

Hong Kong Oversea tax residency

5. How to define an oversea tax residency？

When defining if a person or an entity is a tax resident, it is generally based on the location or the period of stay in the place of residence of the relevant person. For example, if a person in a particular year of assessment stayed in Hong Kong for more than 183 days, the person is a Hong Kong tax resident. In the case of a company, the company’s tax residency is defined according to the location of the company in which the company is incorporated, or the location of its central management and control. Please note that any person who has paid taxes (such as withholding tax, consumption tax or capital gains tax) in a tax residence does not automatically make the person a tax resident of the tax residency of that jurisdiction.

Forwin Securities complies with the requirements of CRS

6. Is there any impact to the clients when Forwin Securities complies with the requirements of CRS?

Under the CRS, all financial institutions will be liable for making reports on “Reportable Accounts”. Hong Kong taxpayers who are not tax residents of any territory outside Hong Kong will not be reported. The Amendment Ordinance requires all financial institutions to apply due diligence procedures to collect all required information and documentation from all account holders. Forwin Securities may ask the account holder to complete self-certification form for identification of their tax residency status.

All clients who hold any financial account in a financial institution will be subject to the CRS that required the financial institution to conduct due diligence procedures. All clients being affected include individuals (whether there is any transactions directly or indirectly through the financial institution) and entities such as corporations, partnerships or trusts, etc. All clients who are identified as reportable persons, i.e. tax residents of jurisdictions that have signed AEOI agreements with Hong Kong, will be subject to the CRS required reporting. Therefore, all clients whose tax residency is Hong Kong are not subject to the CRS reporting.

The law requires financial institutions to verify the information provided by the client in the self-certification form. If the information submitted by the client is incomplete/inconsistent, the client must provide relevant supplementary information/documents to complete the identity certification under the CRS. Therefore, F Forwin Securities may require the clients to provide other documents to verify their tax resident status, or to provide other evidence to prove that the tax residency mentioned in the Self-Certification Form is true.

Self-certification form

7. If the client’s place of residence is not the tax residency, does the client still have to submit a “self-certification form”?

Yes, according to the CRS, Forwin Securities must conduct a due diligence process to collect the required information and documents from all clients to ensure that there is sufficient information to identify the tax residency of the clients. Forwin Securities has the right to ask the client to fill out “Self-certification form” to verify the status of its tax residency. The information listed in the Self-Certification Form and all details of the client’s account will be reported to the tax authorities.

This information need to be updated

8. Does this information need to be updated regularly?

Forwin Securities has the right to request the customer to re-fill the “Self-Certificate Form” to update the relevant information.

 Joint account holders

9. Does each of the joint account holders require to complete a form？

Yes, each account holder, entity and / or its controller is required to complete the Self-Certification Form. All parts of the form must be completed with the client’s signature (except where not applicable or otherwise specified). If space provided is insufficient, please use additional sheet(s). Information in fields/parts marked with an asterisk (*) are required to be reported by the reporting financial institution to the Inland Revenue Department.

Countries are participating in the CRS

10. Which countries are participating in the CRS？

For a full list of countries participating in the CRS, alongside the dates they will start exchanging information, please refer to OECD website http://www.oecd.org/tax/automatic-exchange/crs-implementation-and-assistance/crs-by-jurisdiction/.

The differences between the (CRS) and (FATCA)

11. What are the differences between the CRS and FATCA？

FATCA is the US Law which requires the financial institutions to identify the US Persons based on their citizenship and to report the US Persons in accordance with FATCA regulations. The CRS requires the financial institutions to identify all tax residencies of the clients and, in most cases, to report the information of the clients based on their tax residency. Even if the clients have already provided information under the United States government’s Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”), the clients may still need to provide additional information for the CRS as they are two different regulatory systems.

Further information

12. Where can I find further information？

For further information, please refer to HKSAR Inland Revenue Department website http://www.ird.gov.hk/eng/faq/dta_aeoi.htm/.

China Connect

13.What is China Connect?

China Connect is a mutual market access program co-established by Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (SEHK), Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE), Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) and China Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation Limited (China Clear). The program allows investors in Hong Kong and Mainland China to directly trade and settle shares listed on the other market respectively. China Connect consists of two parts: (i) Shanghai • Shenzhen Stock Connect (or Northbound Connect), which allows Hong Kong and overseas investors to trade companies listed in the A-share market through Hong Kong-based brokers; and (ii) Hong Kong Stock Connect (or Southbound Connect), which allows Mainland investors to trade companies listed in Hong Kong.

a. How to trade Shanghai or Shenzhen A shares though Forwin Securities ?
Clients have to hold valid securities accounts and “Broker-to-Client Assigned Number” (“BCAN”) before placing their order to Forwin Securities by calling their account executives.

b. What is Northbound Investor ID model ?
Under the Northbound (Shanghai-Hong Kong stock connect and Shenzhen-Hong Kong stock connect) Investor ID model, China Connect Exchange Participants (“CCEPs”) are required to assign a unique “Broker-to-Client Assigned Number” (“BCAN”) to each of their Northbound trading clients. Each BCAN should be mapped to the “Client Identification Data” (“CID”) of that particular client which includes the client’s name, identity document issuing country, ID type and ID number. Each of the CCEPs is required to submit the BCAN-CID mappings of all its NB trading clients in one file (i.e. “BCAN-CID Mapping File”) to SEHK.

c. What is “Broker-to-Client Assigned Number” (“BCAN”) ?
CCEPs are required to generate and assign a BCAN to each of their NB trading clients following a standard format. Each BCAN should be unique to, and be able to identify, a specific client of a CCEP.

d. What is “Client Identification Data” (“CID”)?
For each individual client of a CCEP, the CID provided by the CCEP will include the following items:

(i)  Name: the client’s full name as shown on the identity document
(ii) ID Issuing Country: the issuing country or jurisdiction of the individual’s identity document
(iii) ID Type: Hong Kong ID card, ID card issued by the government authority of relevant country/region, passport, or any other official identity document
(iv) ID Number: the number of the identity document

For each institutional or corporate client of a CCEP or TTEP, the CID provided by the CCEP or TTEP shall include the following items:

(i) Name: the entity’s name as shown on the certificate of incorporation or Legal Entity Identifier (“LEI”)
(ii) ID Issuing Country: place of incorporation
(iii) ID Type: certificate of incorporation or LEI
(iv) ID Number: certificate number or LEI

e. When client trades Shanghai-Hong Kong stock connect or Shenzhen-Hong Kong stock connect, found that trading is not allowed or can place sell order only, what can I do ?

Please contact our Customer Service hotline: (852) 2895 9991.