The securities firm's invitation to external experts has failed again.
Today, Ideal Auto reported that two employees had repeatedly violated the paid interviews with external securities firms without permission, resulting in the leakage of the company's trade secrets and causing serious consequences. Ideal Automobile reserves the right to pursue legal responsibility against relevant securities firms and investment institutions. Such incidents are not uncommon, and Xiaomi, Sanqi Interactive Entertainment, and others have also stated that they reserve the right to pursue legal responsibility against securities firms, investment institutions, and others who organize related activities.
"This reflects that there are many risk points for securities firms in inviting external experts," a person from the securities research institute told reporters. In January of this year, the China Securities Association suggested that securities firms should effectively strengthen the compliance management of inviting external experts, and maintain the invitation of external experts at a moderate and reasonable level.
Ideal Automobile: reserves the right to hold relevant securities firms accountable
On March 23rd, Ideal Automobile released a notice on employees accepting paid interviews in violation of regulations.
According to the announcement, from November 2022 to January 2024, two employees of Ideal Automobile, Wang and Fang, who had signed a confidentiality agreement and were aware of their confidentiality obligations, illegally accepted paid interviews from external securities firms without permission, resulting in the leakage of the company's trade secrets and causing serious consequences.
After investigation by Ideal Automobile, it was found that the above two individuals seriously violated the requirements of the "Ideal Automobile Confidentiality Management System". According to the "Ideal Automobile Employee Handbook", the two employees involved have been punished with terminating their labor contracts, recovering all improper profits, and reclaiming stock options that have been and have not been attributed.
Ideal Automobile reiterates that it is prohibited for any current employees, former employees, or partners with confidentiality obligations to disclose the company's trade secrets in any way. If there is a violation, the company will give relevant responsible persons a warning, record a demerit, terminate the labor contract, and demand compensation for all losses in accordance with the law. If it constitutes a criminal offense of infringing on trade secrets, intellectual property rights, etc., the company will transfer it to the public security organs and relevant departments for processing in accordance with the law!
Meanwhile, Ideal Automobile reserves the right to pursue legal responsibility against relevant securities firms and investment institutions.
The notice states that Ideal Automobile has always maintained zero tolerance for infringement of trade secrets, and will resolutely crack down on similar behaviors to protect its legitimate rights and interests in accordance with the law.
Xiaomi and others have also stated that they will hold securities firms accountable
This type of event is not the first time it has occurred. Earlier, Xiaomi, listed company Sanqi Interactive Entertainment, and others also stated that they reserve the right to hold securities firms and investment institutions responsible for organizing related activities accountable for their employees or former employees participating in exchange meetings organized by securities firms and other organizations in violation of regulations.
On February 2 this year, March 7th Mutual Entertainment released the "Strict Statement on Illegal Persons Spreading False and False Information in the Name of Our Company" on the official WeChat official account.
The statement stated that recently, Sanqi Interactive Entertainment received reports that there were illegal individuals impersonating company experts to provide consulting services on products, operations, advertising strategies, and data related to Sanqi Interactive Entertainment, and charged consulting fees. The above behavior spreads false information to the market, damages the company's reputation and legitimate rights and interests.
After investigation, it was found that during the period from December 2023 to January 2024, Lin and Bian, former employees of the company, impersonated "in-service employees of Sanqi Interactive Entertainment" without permission to participate in consulting exchanges with securities firms and investment institutions organized by external consulting agencies for the purpose of collecting "consulting fees", which seriously violated the company's regulations and confidentiality obligations. Sanqi Interactive Entertainment has blacklisted the above two personnel and will never hire them, and will pursue legal responsibilities in accordance with the law. At the same time, Sanqi Interactive Entertainment reserves the right to pursue legal responsibility for consulting agencies that organize related activities.
On December 19, last year, Xiaomi Group issued a statement stating that it had verified that in November and December 2023, three former employees of Xiaomi's automotive department participated in so-called "Xiaomi automotive seminars" organized by external securities firms and investment institutions without permission, with the purpose of collecting "consulting fees" during their tenure. They fabricated and spread a large amount of incorrect and untrue information, seriously misleading the market and disrupting the normal business operations of Xiaomi.
Xiaomi stated that the above three employees have seriously violated the Xiaomi Group Employee Code of Conduct and the company's confidentiality obligations. Xiaomi Group has dismissed them, will never hire them, and will pursue legal responsibilities in accordance with the law. At the same time, Xiaomi Group reserves the right to pursue legal responsibility against securities firms and investment institutions that organize related activities.
China Securities Association: Effectively Strengthening Compliance Management of Inviting External Experts
The occurrence of such events highlights the risk points of brokerage business. For securities firms, it is common to invite experts (who appear as experts in meetings) to provide consulting services to clients.
Generally speaking, the current expert database of securities firms mainly includes two forms. One is built internally by securities firms, which is considered to be more secure and reliable, and helps to strengthen deep links with experts, thus gaining more favor. However, due to the diverse types of experts required by securities firms and the difficulty of inviting experts, it has become a common way to seek experts through external third-party expert consulting companies when the internal expert pool resources of securities firms are relatively limited.
However, experts invited through external means may have some risk points. For example, experts are not real experts, but rather "Li Gui"; The speech involves the leakage of commercial secrets, etc.
In early January of this year, the China Securities Association issued the "2022 Securities Research Report Business Operation Statistics Report" to securities firms. It is pointed out that securities firms invite external experts more frequently, which poses risks and hidden dangers. In 2022, the number of times companies invited external experts to provide consulting services for clients other than securities investment consulting services reached 70809, which is three times higher than in 2021 (23540). There are significant risks and hidden dangers in expert identity verification, compliance review of speech content, and prevention of conflicts of interest.
The China Securities Association suggests strengthening compliance management for inviting external experts. Each company should strictly follow the "Code of Practice for Publishing Securities Research Reports", focus on its main responsibilities, continuously improve its research capabilities, invite external experts to maintain a moderate and reasonable level, strengthen clean industry management, and do a good job in risk prevention and control.