Re Southwest Securities (HK) Futures Ltd

DCMP 7264/2025

[2026] HKDC 1213

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

MISCELLANEOUS PROCEEDINGS NO 7264 OF 2025

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JUDGMENT

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1.The Applicant now applies by an ex-parte Originating Summons taken out on 30 December 2025 for an order under sections 56 and 62 of the Trustee Ordinance Cap 29 to pay into court the unclaimed assets listed in Schedule 1 attached thereto (“Schedule 1” and “the Unclaimed Assets”).

2.The Unclaimed Assets comprise of 15 items, which are sums of cash in HKD, USD and CNY held respectively by 14 named beneficiaries, and in respect of item 15, by unknown beneficiaries. Their total value in terms of Hong Kong dollars per the exchange rate on 28 November 2025 was HK$228,672.61.

3.The Applicant is a limited company and wholly owned subsidiary under the company group headed by the Southwest Securities International Securities Limited. It has been licensed by the Securities and Futures Commission (“the SFC”) to carry on type 2 regulated activities, ie. dealing in future contracts.

4.On 26 May 2025, its board of directors resolved as a matter of commercial interest to cease providing trading services to its customers, and filed a notice of cessation of its business with the SFC. Presently, the Applicant has already ceased business.

5.It is well-established that for the court to accede to the present application, the Applicant has to demonstrate that (1) the assets in question are held by the Applicant as a trustee, and (2) despite reasonable endeavours, the beneficiaries cannot be contacted or are unresponsive, or it is otherwise unable to obtain instructions as to how to deal with, dispose of or return the trust assets (Re Gold Fund Securities Co Ltd [2020] HKCFI 2884 §§12-13, Re MTF Securities [2023] HKCFI 312 §§13-14).

6.The application is initially supported by the affirmation of Tong Shing Johnson, a director of the Applicant.

7.I am satisfied by the evidence proffered in his said affirmation that:

(a) By the terms of the Account Opening Agreement or the Account Open Form then current in respect of each of the 14 named beneficiaries (which governed their relationship) that the Unclaimed Assets held by the Applicant in the name of the14 named beneficiaries are now being held by the Applicant as a trustee.

(b) In respect of the sum of HK$64,060.86, being item 15 of Schedule 1 described as being deposited by unknown beneficiaries, there is now little information on them, except that the sum consists of money all along held in the client account maintained by the Applicant with HSBC and labelled as “Client deposits”, and thus the sum is an asset the Applicant holds as a trustee for these unknown clients.

8.In the affirmation, Mr Tong also deposed to some general efforts undertaken by the Applicant since November 2021 to inform beneficiaries with unclaimed assets that the Applicant intended to suspend service and terminate their accounts and to ask them to withdraw their assets. These efforts included issuing letters to the beneficiaries’ last known correspondence addresses in 2021, making rounds of telephone calls in May 2025, and further rounds of letters issued thereafter. Through these efforts, the Applicant was able to establish contact with 2 of the beneficiaries.

9.However, 7 of the present 14 named beneficiaries were residents in Mainland China and apparently 3 others were residents in Malaysia. However, Mr Tong in his said affirmation did not mention about any particular efforts being made to attempt to establish contact and seek instructions from these foreign beneficiaries.

10.At the hearing on 22 January 2026, I raised the query and gave leave to the Applicant to file a supplemental affirmation deposing to the specific efforts made to contact these foreign beneficiaries. I adjourned the matter for paper disposal after the supplemental affirmation has been filed. After some discussion with Mr Sik, I also gave leave to amend the OS by adding the requirement of placing an advertisement once in a nation-wide newspaper in the Mainland.

11.Mr Tong filed his 2^nd affirmation on 30 June 2026. He deposed to the specific efforts, including an actual visit to the last known address of Mr 刘凤洲 (who is the beneficiary of unclaimed cash of HK$99,957) in Guangzhou, various attempts to establish contacts through further telephone calls, WeChat, QQ mail, and Facebook accounts. With these efforts, the Applicant was able to return their respective unclaimed assets to 3 beneficiaries and obtained the instruction from one of them that he would be abandoning his assets.

12.I am satisfied that these additional efforts together with those earlier were reasonable endeavours, but despite them the remaining beneficiaries cannot be contacted or are unresponsive, so that the Applicant is unable to obtain instructions as to how to deal with, dispose of or return the remaining Unclaimed Assets in the total sum of HK$199,847.57, as set out and listed in the revised Schedule 1 attached to the said 2^nd Affirmation of Mr Tong.

13.In the premises, I make the declaration and order in terms of paragraphs 1 to 4 of the amended OS save the Schedule in paragraph 1 thereof would be changed to the said revised Schedule 1 and the same would be attached to the sealed order. I make no order as to costs as indicated in paragraph 16 of Mr Sik’s submissions.

14.I thank Mr Sik for his assistance.

Mr Sik Chee Ching, instructed by Norton Rose Fulbright Hong Kong, for the Applicant