Some foreign institutions have temporarily suspended trading cooperation with Guotai Junan Securities and Citic Securities due to compliance considerations, as the two securities firms are currently under investigation by the Securities and Futures Commission, mainland media reported.
The impact of the investigation has expanded from the regulatory level to the business side, the report said.
Guotai Junan International (1788) and Citic Securities (6030) have no comment on the report.
Last week, Hong Kong's anti-graft watchdog and market regulator arrested eight people in a joint operation targeting suspected insider trading and corruption involving confidential placing information of listed companies, including senior executives from three licensed corporations - two securities firms and one hedge fund management company.
The hedge fund offered more than HK$4 million in bribes to senior executives of the licensed securities firms in return for confidential information, illegally making profits of around HK$315 million, according to the statement.
Guotai Junan International previously said it had been raided this week, while Citic Securities said an employee from its Hong Kong subsidiary had been questioned by authorities.
Additionally, Tina Shen Yin, vice president of fixed income bond sales at DBS Bank, has been suspended by the SFC over her alleged connection to the case, with rumors suggesting she is married to Samuel Pan Jupeng, the arrested senior executive from Guotai Junan International.
