Hong Kong’s securities regulator is taking a harder line on claims that documents are shielded by legal professional privilege. Speaking in late August 2026, the Securities and Futures Commission’s head of enforcement said the agency is prepared to push back against over-broad privilege claims, echoing a recent court ruling. In that case, a broker hired outside lawyers after concerns arose about the handling of confidential information around a block trade, and the resulting internal investigation report was given to the SFC under a limited waiver. When a hedge fund manager sought the report, interview notes, and underlying communications, the broker claimed privilege and lost. The court applied the dominant purpose test: a document is privileged only if it was created mainly to obtain legal advice or for litigation, and here the main purpose was satisfying regulatory reporting obligations. Involving a lawyer or labeling a document does not by itself create privilege, although genuine privilege survives a limited waiver.
