Paper 15: Sponsors (Principals)

What this paper covers

This is an Additional Competence Requirements Paper. Only people doing specific business lines take it — it is not required of every licensee.

Questions	40 multiple-choice
Time	60 minutes
Pass mark	70%
Delivery	Computer-based (CBE), in English or Traditional Chinese

Syllabus areas

• Licensing requirements for RA Type 6 sponsor work
• Principal sponsor and Sponsor Principal qualifications
• Regulators and compliance obligations
• Business, financial and legal due diligence
• Management and director due diligence
• Reliance on experts and third-party opinions
• Due diligence record-keeping and working papers
• Sponsor appointment, independence and resignation

A summary of the main areas. Chapter structure and question weighting follow the latest HKSI Institute study material.

Who needs this paper?

This is an additional competence requirement for specific business lines. Type 6 (corporate finance) staff doing sponsor work take Paper 15 (principals) or Paper 16 (representatives); those advising on Takeovers Code and share buy-back matters also take Paper 17.

Full RA mapping and exemption rules: the complete SFC LE guide.

How to study for it

This paper is an extra requirement for a specific business line and the questions stay close to real cases. Work from the case chapters of the official study material, make sure you understand each party's role and the deadlines involved, then test your judgement with practice questions.

At 40 questions in 60 minutes you have roughly 90 seconds per question — practise under timed conditions.