(Yicai) June 5 -- Futu Holdings has followed its peers Tiger Brokers and Longbridge Securities in suspending deposit and buying services for existing mainland investment accounts, after China’s securities regulator accused the three fintech companies of unlicensed cross-border securities, fund, and futures businesses.

Futu’s existing mainland investors will not be able to add positions for all investment products, nor deposit funds into their accounts from inside the country, from June 12, the firm announced today, adding that position reductions and account closures will be unaffected.

Tiger Brokers and Longbridge issued similar statements on June 2 and 3, respectively.

The adjustments aim at meeting regulatory requirements and promoting the standardized development of cross-border securities services and will not affect the company’s overseas services for existing investors and customer asset security, Futu pointed out.

On May 22, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said that Futu, Longbridge, and Tiger Brokers operated unlicensed cross-border securities, fund, and futures businesses in the mainland, and it would confiscate their illegal gains and impose fines on them.

The three online brokers, through licensed overseas entities, provided a full range of securities brokerage, public fund distribution, and futures intermediary services, such as opening accounts, transactions, deposit, and withdrawal, and push notifications on industry information to domestic individuals without obtaining securities, fund sales, and futures business licenses from China’s securities and financial regulators, the CSRC noted.

The watchdog gave Futu, Longbridge, and Tiger Brokers a two-year grace period. From May 2026 to May 2028, existing accounts are only allowed to sell or transfer funds, as they are forbidden from depositing or buying. After the grace period, all investor accounts will be shut down, and the companies will fully withdraw from the mainland market.

This is the largest law enforcement action targeting cross-border online brokers, marking the end of the gray era of unlicensed cross-border business operations.

Editor: Futura Costaglione