Three contract drafting failures left this employer without legal protection
A Hong Kong court refused to enforce a non-compete against a former fund manager, finding the employer had insufficient prospects of success.
On 13 February 2026, the Hong Kong Court of First Instance handed down its decision in Pando Finance Limited v Ng Ean Kiam [2026] HKCFI 1046, dismissing the asset management firm's application to restrain its former Portfolio Manager, Ng Ean Kiam, from working at a competitor.
Ng, a Singaporean national with over 30 years in financial services, joined Pando Finance under a Service Agreement dated 22 February 2024. After completing probation, he received a Confirmation Letter on 21 May 2024 containing a 12-month non-compete covenant, restricting him from joining any business that directly or indirectly competed with the company.
He resigned on 9 January 2025 and formally left on 8 April 2025. In mid-April 2025, he joined MicroBit Capital Management Limited as Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager. His SFC licence was transferred from Pando Finance to MicroBit on 29 April 2025. Pando Finance says it discovered this in around July 2025 and commenced legal proceedings on 22 August 2025. An earlier attempt at an interim-interim injunction at a call-over hearing on 29 August 2025 was refused: the court found Pando Finance had failed to prove urgency and that the balance of prejudice did not favour granting relief at that stage. The substantive hearing...
Pakistani actress and model Ayesha Omar has strongly denied a controversial statement falsely attributed to her on social media. In recent days, a statement circulated online claiming that the act...