Ada Fu

Senior Consultant

Ada Fu worked at Securities and Futures Commission’s (SFC) Licensing Department as a Senior Manager. She has over 25 years of experience in the financial industry, including more than 15 years at the SFC. She focuses on licence applications for traditional financial services, virtual asset (VA) licensing and uplift applications.

Background

During her 15 years at the SFC, Ada handled and reviewed licence applications across a broad range of regulated activities and business models. She was also closely involved in developing and enhancing core licensing requirements and policies for traditional financial institutions, as well as licensing processes and assessment criteria for VA-related applications and licence uplifts.

Since joining QReg Advisory, Ada has provided clients with bespoke SFC licensing strategy and regulatory advice. Her work covers traditional licensing applications, as well as VA OTC applications, VA uplifts, RA 6 (advising on corporate finance), RA 7 (providing automated trading services) and other complex and unconventional licensing matters. She has particular expertise in advising on Responsible Officer (RO) and senior management requirements, including the competence requirements, allocation of roles and responsibilities, and the structuring of supervisory arrangements. She also advises on business models that do not readily fit within established regulatory frameworks.

Ada was also a Committee Member of the Hong Kong Securities and Investment Institute (HKSI) Examination Committee.

Areas of Expertise

SFC licence applications and strategy for complex and first-of-its-kind business models
Securities broker, adviser, sponsor and fund manager licence applications
VA licensing and VA uplift applications
VA trading platforms (VATP) applications
SFC licence applications for global payment companies
Digital bank expansion and related applications
SFC licence applications and regulatory matters for mainland firms, particularly state-owned enterprises
Automated bond trading platform licence applications
SFC licence applications for digital securities platforms
Licence applications for institutional prime brokerage and sophisticated institutional business models
Policies and procedures review for licensed intermediaries and banks
Licensing complaint cases and regulatory enquiries that may have potential enforcement implications
Tokenisation and real-world assets (RWA) projects

Qualifications

Bachelor of Business Administration, The Chinese University of Hong Kong