How director disqualification works in Hong Kong and Singapore

In Hong Kong the SFC asks the court for disqualification orders of up to 15 years. In Singapore many disqualifications follow automatically from bankruptcy, convictions or filing failures.

Under section 214 of the Securities and Futures Ordinance, the Hong Kong court can disqualify a person from being a director or being involved in managing any corporation for up to 15 years, the SFC says.¹
The SFC says this applies where a person is wholly or partly responsible for a company's affairs being conducted in a manner involving defalcation, fraud or other misconduct. In the Pearl Oriental case the order barred the former chairman from acting without the leave of the court for six years.¹
Many SFC cases are resolved on admissions. In the Hanergy case in 2017 the court relied on the directors' admissions, and in the Minth case in 2019 the proceedings were disposed of by the Carecraft procedure with an agreed statement of facts.^2,3
In Singapore, ACRA lists disqualification grounds including bankruptcy (section 148), court orders and certain convictions (sections 149 and 154, generally five years), persistent filing defaults (section 155, five years from last conviction) and having three or more companies struck off within five years (section 155A).⁴
ACRA says a disqualified person cannot act as a director or manage a company unless permitted, with penalties of a fine up to 10,000 dollars, jail up to two years, or both.⁴

Sources

Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, SFC obtains court order to disqualify former chairman of Pearl Oriental Oil Limited for six years (25 January 2018)
Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, SFC obtains disqualification and court orders against former chairman and current directors of Hanergy Thin Film Power Group Limited (4 September 2017)
Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, SFC obtains court orders against former Chairman and directors of Minth Group Limited (7 November 2019)
Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), Singapore, When a director can or must leave office (22 October 2026)