This is one of the more ridiculous comments I've read. To be clear - we have ZERO choice on this decision.
The insurance you are talking about is government insurance. If you have a beef with that, contact your legislator. I understand many are concerned about what would happen in the case of a default but all HK residents are in the same boat as long as you deal with a firm licensed or promoting their services in Hong Kong. The move of HK clients to a HK company does not take away from the fact that the IB has a long track record of profits which are released quarterly, the group is extremely strong with over $5 Billion USD in equity capital, management and staff have massive skin in the game as we own ~85% of the company. I would believe our financial strength and strict adherence to client money rules along with our real time margining system should offer great comfort.
You will rarely see me banging the drum of a regulator but calling the HK regulators incompetent is ludicrous. They run a very tight ship. Sure, I wish they offered more flexibility and would work with legco to update the SFO to incorporate US treasuries as allowable assets but financially, they are very conservative and I can make a strong case on why many of the requirements in Hong Kong are extremely conservative (I would start with 3 clearing houses that do not allow cross margining to position limits that are very low to the capital requirements needed to maintain such positions).
You say they [big gov] "ALWAYS side with big business interests" - I guess you weren't around for the Lehman mini bond saga and saw that the holders were made whole. (I also believe all obligations to MF clients were also met in Hong Kong)
Frankly, if you're afraid to put more than $20K (150K HKD) into a broker due to a fear the broker may go bust, you probably should not be trading with that firm and move somewhere too big to fail. Most of our clients understand we are financially strong and run a tight ship. There has not been a mass exodus. Most clients - including the largest of accounts - have agreed to move. If you want to kick the tires, feel free to make an appointment and visit our office - to us it's business as usual.