Hong Kong’s banking regulator has banned its staff from referring job candidates to the institutions it regulates, after The Wall Street Journal reported that a top official at the watchdog had referred his son for an internship at JP Morgan Chase.

Peter Pang, one of three deputy chief executives at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, made the recommendation in 2006, according to an internal JP Morgan document listing officials and executives who referred job candidates to the bank under a program known as "Sons and Daughters."