The Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption has charged three former client managers of HSBC with accepting bribes to facilitate insurance agents in referring clients for account openings.

On July 29, the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) filed charges against three bank employees, accusing them of accepting bribes to assist a client referred by an insurance agent to bypass waiting and directly proceed with the bank account opening procedures. On July 31, according to media reports, the case was presented at the Eastern Magistrates' Court, and the three defendants were not required to respond at this stage while the defense sought documents and legal advice. The case was postponed until September 25 for further proceedings, and the three were granted bail ranging from HKD 20,000 to HKD 50,000, during which they are not allowed to contact prosecution witnesses. The three defendants Chan Fu-Kun, 32; Chan Wai-Pak, 29; and Yau Kai-Long, 33 were all client managers at the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) at the time of the offense. They face a total of six counts of corruption, specifically five counts of conspiracy to induce an agent to accept benefits and one count of an agent accepting benefits, in violation of Section 9(1)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance and Section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance. The three defendants were employees at a branch in Causeway Bay, responsible for arranging colleagues who handle bank account opening applications for waiting clients. None of them had the authority to process account opening applications. The charges allege that Chan Fu-Kun accepted bribes from an insurance agent in 2024 to facilitate the opening of bank accounts for the agent's referred clients, receiving between HKD 1,000 and HKD 1,200 for each client. Additionally, Chan Fu-Kun is accused of referring some clients to Chan Wai-Pak and Yau Kai-Long, also HSBC client managers, to assist with account openings and providing bribes of HKD 300 to HKD 500 for each referred client to Chan Wai-Pak and Yau Kai-Long. The ICAC investigation revealed that Chan Fu-Kun allegedly received over HKD 35,000 in bribes to arrange for clients referred by the insurance agent to bypass waiting and directly proceed with bank account opening procedures. He had also requested Chan Wai-Pak and Yau Kai-Long to assist when he was unavailable to meet with the relevant clients. During the aforementioned corruption investigation, the ICAC uncovered that Chan Wai-Pak allegedly placed bets on an illegal online gambling platform, involving over HKD 120,000 in February 2026. On July 28, he was additionally charged with one count of placing bets with a bettor, violating Section 8 of the Gambling Ordinance. HSBC provided full cooperation during the ICAC investigation of the case.