HONG KONG, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's Security

Regulator (SFC) said on Monday that it had reprimanded Swiss

bank UBS AG and fined it HK$8 million ($1.03 million)

for misclassifying its clients' professional investor status for

more than 12 years.

A total of 560 joint accounts booked or managed in Hong Kong

by the bank were misclassified, the regulator said.

In August 2021, the SFC reprimanded and fined UBS HK$9.8

million for various regulatory breaches, including failures of a

similar nature, according to SFC.

UBS declined to comment.

The Hong Kong securities watchdog has since August

stepped up scrutiny

over banks' regulatory breaches, dishing out fines of

HK$4.2 million to HSBC ( HSBC ) and HK$23.8 million to Deutsche Bank,

respectively.

($1 = 7.7675 Hong Kong dollars)