On May 22, 2026, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), in conjunction with eight government agencies, opened investigations into three cross-border brokerage firms, Tiger Securities, Fidelity and Longbridge, announcing that they would confiscate all of their illegal proceeds and set up a two-year period of concentrated remediation to require the orderly withdrawal of domestic stockholders. This is not a sudden event, but the end of a five-year, four-phase regulatory action.

For domestic investors who still hold overseas stocks, the most pressing question is not "whether the brokerage firm will go bankrupt", but "what are the restrictions on my account, what should I do in two years, and whether my funds are safe". This article is based on the official documents of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), the Joint Remediation Program of the eight departments, and the official responses of brokerage firms to verify and answer the questions one by one.

What is this remediation campaign all about?

On May 22, 2026, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) announced that the illegal cross-border activities of Tiger Brokers NZ Limited, Futura Securities International (Hong Kong) Limited, and Changqiao Securities (Hong Kong) Company Limited had violated China's securities, funds and futures laws and regulations and disrupted market order, which must be resolutely cracked down on. In accordance with the relevant regulations, the SFC intends to confiscate all the illegal proceeds of TIGER, FORTUNE and CHANGQIAO, and impose severe penalties in accordance with the law.

The specific violations committed by the three organizations are that they have not obtained approval from the CSRC and do not hold a license to operate, and that they have initiated and charged fees for services such as marketing and promotion of securities trading and processing of trade orders in the PRC. This constitutes a violation of Article 120 of the Securities Law, which constitutes illegal operation of securities business. It also constitutes a violation of Article 97 of the Securities Investment Fund Law and Article 63 of the Futures and Derivatives Law, which constitutes illegal engagement in the business of selling public funds and illegal engagement in the business of futures brokerage, respectively.

Source:Official Announcement of the China Securities Regulatory CommissionMay 22, 2026

It's a multi-departmental, nationwide operation.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), in conjunction with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), the People's Bank of China (PBOC), and eight other government departments, jointly issued the "Implementation Plan for the Comprehensive Rectification of Illegal Cross-border Securities, Futures and Funds Operation Activities", with the goal of eradicating illegal cross-border operation activities by foreign organizations through two years of intensive rectification, so as to better protect the rights and interests of investors and to safeguard the market order.

The joint remediation has established an inter-ministerial coordination mechanism: the SFC takes the lead in investigating and handling cases and managing the list; the net information department cleans up illegal information and disposes of non-compliant accounts; the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology takes down illegal APPs; the market supervision department investigates and handles illegal advertisements; the central bank and the Bureau of Foreign Exchange strictly control the cross-border flow of funds and crack down on underground money makers; the public security department detects and investigates cases of suspected criminal offenses; and the local government implements the responsibility of its own localities to form a closed-loop supervision of the whole chain.

The synchronized intervention of eight departments means that this action in the four dimensions of the technical blockade, funds control, criminal accountability, network audit synchronized tightening, and any past "warning" rectification is inherently different.

Why do you say this is "final enforcement" and not a periodic warning?

To understand the weight of this action, it is important to look at the complete picture of the last five years.

October 2021: For the first time, officials of the People's Bank of China (PBoC) publicly characterized cross-border Internet brokers as "unlicensed driving" and illegal financial activities, which is a statement of public opinion without any substantive punishment.

November 2021CSCSC conducted regulatory interviews with executives of Futura and Tiger, requesting them to regulate their business in accordance with the law. Still verbal pressure, no fines or forfeitures.

December 30, 2022The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has formally recognized the illegality of such activities and, in accordance with the law, has begun to regulate the illegal cross-border operations of overseas brokerages such as Fortress Securities and Tiger Securities, eliminating the incremental illegal business activities and prohibiting them from soliciting domestic investors, developing new clients and opening new accounts in the country. However, trading on stock accounts continues and the platforms continue to collect commissions.

May 2023FTNB and Tiger International Apps are removed from the mainland app stores. The removal is not equivalent to the cessation of services - assets, transactions, and commission income from stock accounts will continue as usual. According to the latest characterization of the CSRC 2026, income from this period since 2022 is classified as illegal income.

2025The CSRC found that individual offshore institutions had circumvented the remediation requirements and illegally expanded their business in a disguised manner, seriously disrupting the order of the financial market, and further tightened its supervision.

May 22, 2026The first time a case was opened for investigation, all illegal proceeds were confiscated, and a two-year remediation and clearance period was set up. This is the first real enforcement action.

Why can't it be reversed this time?

This penalty and the joint program of the eight departments is a deepening and upgrading of the previous remediation, marking the supervision from "curbing the increment" to "comprehensive clearance of the stock and closing the whole chain" stage.

In the past, each remediation was in the form of a "rectification order", which allowed for the continuation of the stock of business and gave brokers room to make adjustments. This time, it was issued in the form of a formal document, "SFC [2026] No. 28", approved by the State Council, with a clear deadline of two years and the requirement for a complete shutdown. The political cost is extremely high and there is almost no room for reversal.

How much did each brokerage firm get fined? What were the responses of the three firms?

The CSRC has proposed a total fine of RMB 1.85 billion (approximately US$271 million) against Futura Holdings and a personal fine of RMB 1.25 million against founder and CEO Li Hua.The parent company of Tiger Securities was proposed to be fined RMB 410 million.The exact amount of fines imposed on Longbridge has not been publicly disclosed as of this writing.

It should be noted in particular that the above figures are those of the Advance Notification of Administrative Penalties.Proposed AmountThe final figures are not final. All three organizations have the right to present, defend and request for a hearing, and the final figures will be determined by the SFC's official decision on administrative penalties.

What are the official responses from the three brokerage firms?

Fidelity (international trade company): Fortis said that as a licensed financial institution, it has been adhering to high standards of compliance in its operations. The company has stopped opening new accounts for mainlanders and has zero tolerance for fraudulent account opening. Over the past two years, tens of thousands of non-compliant account opening applications had been rejected. As at the end of the first quarter of 2026, the proportion of Mainland clients with assets to the Group as a whole has been further reduced to 13%.

Tiger SecuritiesThe Company has taken note of the relevant notification and will actively cooperate in strict accordance with the regulatory requirements. Currently, the Company's business operations are normal and compliance is always its top priority.

Longbridge Securities: Cambridge stated that client funds are completely segregated from the company's working capital and are kept in separate custodian bank accounts; US and Hong Kong stocks held by clients are custodied by the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited respectively, and reminded investors to be wary of all types of fraudulent information posing as customer service.

The market reacted instantly: How much did the stock price fall?

After the announcement of the news, the ADRs of the relevant U.S. stocks fell sharply.

Shares of Tiger Securities fell as much as about 45% before the U.S. bell, and Fidelity Holdings slumped as much as more than 30%.

The strong market reaction reflects two main concerns: one is the uncertainty of the final amount of the fine; and the other is the structural impact of the mandatory removal of domestic customers on future profitability.

Lei, an analyst at JPMorgan. It was pointed out that Mainland China customers accounted for approximately 13% of Fidelity's users and less than 20% of its assets, but if Fidelity had to fully retire all of its Mainland customers, it was expected that revenues would fall by approximately 20% and earnings would fall by approximately 30% by 2026.

However.Morgan Stanley.Taking a different stance, it maintains a "hold" rating and a $225 price target on Fidelity, believing that the stock is overshooting in the short term due to panic selling and that the valuation is attractive, while pointing out that this regulatory action will remove the biggest regulatory uncertainty that has existed for many years at the head of cross-border internet brokers.

Investor's most important question: Are the funds in the account safe?

The CSRC's remediation plan clearly emphasizes that the safety of investors' property will not be affected by the remediation. Market participants are of the view that the remediation will target illegal cross-border business activities of foreign institutions and will not affect the existing legal channels.

It's confiscated.Unauthorized gains by brokerage firms--- i.e. commissions and service fees earned by the platform for providing illegal services to inbound investors; not the personal assets in the investor's account. Accounts will not be compulsorily canceled and cash, shares and funds in the accounts will not be compulsorily liquidated.

Specific limitations of the two-year remediation period

According to the remediation plan, during the two-year centralized remediation period, foreign institutions are prohibited from providing buy transactions and fund transfers for stock investors in China, and only one-way sell transactions and fund transfers are allowed. Upon the expiration of the remediation period, foreign institutions are required to completely shut down their domestic websites, trading software and supporting servers, and are prohibited from providing any trading services for stock investors in China.

Investors who have not liquidated their positions after the two-year transitional period may face a high risk of not being able to place orders through the regular APP or having their funds stuck outside the country and difficult to retrieve them. Investors are advised to pay close attention to the specific liquidation timetable to be announced by the brokerage firms.

In other words: the safety of funds is officially guaranteed, but the right to trade has been restricted in one direction, and the real risk node is the closure of the platform after two years.

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) said on the same day that it had examined 12 brokerage firms and found significant deficiencies in all of them, and that it would require the closure of accounts opened with dubious or forged documents, as well as more stringent scrutiny of new accounts and their funding sources.

This means that Hong Kong is not a bystander, but is tightening its compliance standards for account opening. Investors holding Hong Kong accounts should also pay attention to whether their account documents are complete and compliant.

Extended Reading:
2026 FTSE BULLETINS Tutorials｜Opening an Account, Depositing and Withdrawing Funds, Buying Coins
Fidelity Cryptocurrency Deposit and Withdrawal Tutorial 2026: Complete Guide on How to Add and Withdraw Coins to Hot and Cold Wallets

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: Does the brokerage firm's forfeiture of illegal proceeds include the funds in my account?

Excluded. Forfeitures are illegal commissions and service fees charged by brokerage firms to domestic investors, which are the brokerage firms' own income. Cash, stocks and funds in the investor's personal account are officially protected and are not included in the forfeiture.

Q2: Can I still sell my position during the remediation period?

Can. The remediation program explicitly allows stock investors to sell their positions and transfer funds in one direction during the two-year period. What is not allowed is to make new purchases and transfer new funds into the account.

Q3: Is the amount of fine finalized?

No. Fidelity's RMB 1.85 billion and Tiger's RMB 410 million are the proposed amounts in the Advance Notification of Administrative Penalty. All three organizations are allowed to make representations and defenses, and the final figures will be determined by the official administrative penalty decision.

Q4: What will happen if I haven't liquidated my position after two years?

Upon the expiration of the two-year remediation period, offshore organizations will be required to completely shut down their APPs and servers in the Mainland. By that time, it will not be possible to place orders through regular channels in the Mainland. The accounts and assets themselves will not disappear, but in practice trading will no longer be possible, and there is a risk that funds will be trapped.

Q5: Is Moomoo (Fortune Overseas Brand) affected?

Moomoo is an independent overseas brand of Fortune Holdings operating outside Hong Kong, and holds official licenses from local regulators in Malaysia, the United States, Singapore, Japan and Australia to serve local investors, and is not subject to regulation by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).

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Conclusion

This crackdown on illegal cross-border stock speculation is essentially a structural strengthening of China's capital control system. Over the past five years, the government has used a gradual approach of "curbing the increase and preserving the stock" to allow the market to adapt; this step in 2026 is to include the "stock" problem in the exit path, completing the closure of the whole chain.

For stock investors, the two-year window is an opportunity to dispose of assets in an orderly manner, not a reason to panic. The official protection of investors' asset safety is written in black and white. The real risk lies in passive procrastination - waiting until the day the APP is shut down to dispose of it, the room for choice will be drastically narrowed. Being proactive in understanding your account's identity category and paying close attention to the withdrawal details announced by each brokerage firm are the most important actions to take at this stage.

List of External Links

[1] The original text of the CSRC's official enforcement announcement
https://www.csrc.gov.cn/csrc/c100028/c7634330/content.shtml

[2] The original text of the press Q&A on CSRC's remediation plan.
https://www.csrc.gov.cn/csrc/c100028/c7634328/content.shtml

[3] China Daily Remediation Program English Newspaperhttps://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202605/22/WS6a1049f8a310d6866eb4a373.html

[4] RTHK Chinese Newspaper
https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/ch/component/k2/1855696-20260522.htm

[5] Futura 6-K SEC Official Declaration
https://www.stocktitan.net/news/FUTU/futu-receives-investigation-notice-and-administrative-penalty-pre-1yvcc6nq6rai.html

[6] Sing Tao Headline
https://www.stheadline.com/stock-market/3575290

[7] TipRanks (quoting J.P. Morgan analysts)
https://www.tipranks.com/news/heres-why-futu-holdings-stock-is-crashing-today-5-22-26

[8] Investing.com (citing Morgan Stanley report)
https://ca.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/morgan-stanley-reiterates-futu-stock-rating-amid-regulatory-changes-93CH-4655975

[9] Hong Kong Economic Times
https://inews.hket.com/article/4133157

[10] Mirror Weekly (quoting Reuters)
https://www.mirrormedia.mg/external/setn_1842735

[11] Futura 2025 Annual Results Announcement
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/03/12/3254320/0/en/Futu-Announces-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-2025-Unaudited-Financial-Results.html

Disclaimer

The content of this article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute any investment advice, nor does it represent the position and views of Monsterblockhk. All information and analyses are based on publicly available information as of a specific date and are subject to change. Readers are advised to exercise independent judgment and carefully assess the associated risks. This article does not constitute any invitation or solicitation to buy or sell securities, funds or other financial products, and Monsterblockhk is not a licensed investment adviser of the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong. If necessary, readers should consult a licensed professional for advice on their own circumstances.