Setback for HK regulator in bid to ban Tiger Asia

SINGAPORE, June 15 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's securities regulator suffered a setback on Wednesday in its attempts to ban New York-based hedge fund Tiger Asia.

A judge signalled it was beyond the High Court's jurisdiction to act in a case brought by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) against the Julian Robertson-seeded fund, an SFC statement said.

The SFC, which has accused Tiger Asia of insider dealing, is trying to ban it from trading securities or derivatives in the city and freeze some of its assets.

If successful, this would have been the first time the regulator had banned an entity from trading in the city's markets.

The SFC has been unable to bring a criminal charge against Tiger Asia because all its staff are based outside Hong Kong so it is pursuing a civil case under the Securities and Futures Ordinance.

The Hong Kong Court has yet to release its final decision over Tiger Asia but Justice Harris indicated in a separate case that the court had no jurisdiction to make a ruling, the SFC said.

"The Hon Mr Justice Harris indicated that in the SFC's proceedings against Tiger Asia Management LLC, he has found that the Court of First Instance does not have jurisdiction to make a finding in proceedings under section 213 of the Securities and Futures Ordinance that the contravention alleged by the SFC has occurred," the SFC said in a statement.

The judge was ruling in a separate case about whether the SFC could freeze the assets of Hontex, a company alleged to have disclosed materially misleading information to investors in its IPO prospectus.

The SFC said that it does believe that such an order can be imposed and said it looked forward to the full judgement being released so it can make a full appeal.

The regulator first applied for the order in April 2010 following allegations that the fund and three executives - founder Bill Hwang, head of trading Raymond Park and trading support officer William Tomita-- had engaged in insider dealing in China Construction Bank Corp (0939.HK) (601939.SS) and Bank of China (3988.HK) (601988.SS) during 2008 and 2009.

(Reporting by Rachel Armstrong; Editing by David Cowell)