OneConnect Financial Technology Co., Ltd. (NYSE: OCFT) disclosed that it was identified by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 12, 2022, under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act of the United States (the HFCAA). The Company's annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, may have resulted in this identification.
According to the Company, the SEC made this determination in accordance with the HFCAA and its implementation rules, and the determination suggests that the SEC believes the Company used an auditor whose working paper cannot be checked or examined completely by the PCAOB to release the audit report for its financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021.
According to the HFCAA, a business will be delisted from a U.S. stock exchange if it has been identified by the SEC for three years in a row owing to the PCAOB's inability to check the firm's auditor working paper. The company has been looking into possible options to effectively protect its stakeholders' interests.
Furthermore, OneConnect Financial Technology filed a listing application with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) on February 28, 2022, for the dual main listing of its ordinary shares on the HKEX's Main Board. In both China and the United States, the Company will continue to follow all applicable laws and regulations.