After Futu and Tiger, what else are attracting Beijng's attention?

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On Friday, May 22, Chinese regulatory authorities launched a sweeping crackdown on illegal cross-border securities trading, targeting major online brokerages Futu Holdings, Tiger Brokers, and Longbridge Securities. The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and seven other government agencies announced that these firms violated domestic laws by facilitating unauthorized overseas stock trades for mainland retail clients without the necessary onshore licenses. In response to the breaches, regulators are imposing severe financial penalties, including a proposed $271 million fine for Futu and over $50 million in combined fines and asset confiscations for Tiger Brokers. As part of a two-year campaign to aggressively enforce the country’s strict capital controls, the targeted brokerages are now barred from accepting new investments from mainland clients and have been ordered to systematically wind down existing non-compliant accounts.Is this a surprise?While the sheer size of the fines and the strict two-year mandate to entirely shut down operations for mainland clients made headlines, the writing has been on the wall for years. This recent announcement represents the final “dropping of the shoe” in a 5-year-long regulatory campaign rather than a sudden policy pivot.Here is a timeline of key events leading up to today:October 15, 2021: The CSRC first expressed its displeasure with cross-border online brokers’ “illegal activities” through media reports.December 30, 2022: The CSRC issued an official warning that Futu and Tiger Brokers were conducting cross-border securities …