Goldman Sachs flagged Morgan Stanley block trades to Hong Kong regulator – FT

(Reuters) – Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs reported rival Morgan Stanley to Hong Kong’s financial regulator over a series of block trades, or large sales of shares, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Goldman alerted the territory’s Securities and Futures Commission three years ago as part of an “informal” discussion about price drops in the stocks of a small number of Hong Kong-listed companies that occurred shortly before Morgan Stanley brought blocks of shares to market, according to the report. (https://on.ft.com/3jYyHWs)

It was not known whether Hong Kong authorities investigated the claim by individuals at Goldman, the Financial Times reported.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment, while the Hong Kong regulator declined to comment.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was probing whether financial executives may have broken the rules by tipping off hedge funds ahead of block trades, Reuters reported in February, citing a source with knowledge of the matter.

Hong Kong’s financial regulator has also started asking banks about their block-trading practices since the U.S. investigations were made public, according to the FT report.

(Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama and Vishal Vivek in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)