Tan Kin Lian's Blog: HKMA refers Lehman-Brothers-related cases to the SFC

Monday, October 20, 2008

HKMA refers Lehman-Brothers-related cases to the SFC

This is the press release by Hong Kong Monetary Authority, October 20, 2008

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has today (Friday) referred to the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) 24 cases involving complaints of alleged misconduct in respect of investment products related to Lehman Brothers for further action. The 24 cases, which are the first batch of Lehman-Brothers-related cases referred in this way, involve alleged mis-selling by two licensed banks in Hong Kong.

A HKMA spokesperson said that the cases had been reviewed by the HKMA, which had determined that there were sufficient grounds for referring them to the SFC in accordance with the mechanism established under the Securities and Futures Ordinance and the Memorandum of Understanding between the HKMA and the SFC. "The HKMA is satisfied that there are adequate justifications for referring them immediately to the SFC, which is the authority ultimately responsible for deciding whether a bank has been guilty of misconduct," the spokesperson said. "The SFC will review the evidence and will consult with the HKMA in determining what sanction, if any, is to be imposed," the spokesperson added. Sanctions that the SFC may impose on a bank include suspension or revocation of registration, reprimands, fines or prohibition orders.

The spokesperson said that the HKMA had, up to 16 October 2008, received 12,091 complaints concerning Lehman-Brothers-related products. Apart from the 24 cases referred to the SFC today, the HKMA had formally opened investigations on a further 95 complaints and was currently seeking further information on 783 complaints. A further 21 complaints had been found to lack sufficient prima facie evidence to support further action (A table summarising the complaints received so far is attached).

"The HKMA will continue to work on the large number of complaints that still remain to be assessed as quickly as possible in a systematic and objective way, using the considerable staff resources it has mobilised and in accordance with its powers under relevant legislation," the spokesperson said.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...: Sad to hear about al you guys having problems. I am from Hong Kong and have also been ripped off by a personal banker.
As for Lehman the banks were forced by the HK gov to pay the investors. These guys should not get away lightly and you should keep using the same tactics the HK protestors used. Good Luck !; October 20, 2008 12:18 PM
Lucky Tan said...: Those of you who want to know what happened in Malaysia with regards to Lehman Brothers minibonds. You wonder why there are no protests in Malaysia?....

You can read my blog for the ans:
http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2008/10/black-swans-and-inherent-flaws-of.html; October 20, 2008 12:42 PM
Anonymous said...: HK is HK, Singapore is Singapore. Just like Bond and Minibond, pls dont repeat the mistake of assuming its similar. or even close.

Second of all, go find out more about those 'cases' thats officially put up, i wonder theres any 'special' reasons these cases are brought up, do the owners of these cases could have er priority interests. as it seem the VALUE of these cases have been left out.

heres a tipper if its useful: read news about whats not written, it might often reveal alot more.; October 20, 2008 3:00 PM
Anonymous said...: Hello Mr Tan,

The issue has been raised in parliment today.
Here is the link to the replies.

http://www.mas.gov.sg/news_room/parliamentary_questions/2008/Reply_to_PQs_on_the_Sale_of_structured_products_to_retail_investors.html

Apparently, MAS is still having the "Please do not bother me" attitude.

"Let the FIs go and settle" attitude.

"Cannot see any law broken, Investor education needed" as investor stupid.

Why can't they just follow HK regulators like what they did for bank gurantees?

Sigh...; October 20, 2008 4:43 PM
TanjongKatong said...: Singapore should follow what is being done in HongKong. The following latest report from The Standard Hong Kong shows some real actions compared to the near silence from Singapore banks.

Quote
Bank Of China in minibonds pledge

22/10/2008

Bank of China (Hong Kong) (2388) will respond to complaints about the sale of Lehman Brothers-related investments within 30 days of receiving them, it said yesterday.
The pledge came after the bank, the largest Lehman minibonds distributor by value, held talks with Hong Kong Federation of Trade Union legislator Wong Kwok-hing and about 10 investors.

The bank does not rule out offering a refund to investors if mis-selling is confirmed but would not say whether it is willing to give a full refund, Wong said.

However, Wing Lung Bank (0096) has promised clients who bought derivatives linked to the failed US investment bank that it will consider full or partial refunds if mis-selling is confirmed.

The bank sold HK$400 million worth of investment products linked to Lehman and has received 100 complaints from investors, according to Civic Party chairwoman Audrey Eu Yuet-mee who took about 30 investors to meet Wing Lung management representatives.

The 30 investors bought HK$20 million of Lehman products, including minibonds.

"It's better than nothing. At least they are willing to communicate with clients," said Ng Shin-fung, who bought HK$80,000 in minibonds. "I hope the bank can compensate us fully."

Eu said the bank refused to disclose its guidelines on marketing the related products.

Wing Lung will return signed documents and recordings to complainants within two weeks. The next meeting with investors is scheduled for November 3.

The Consumer Council has not used its legal fund, which amounts to about HK$16 million to pursue court redress on behalf of investors, chairman Anthony Cheung Bing-leung said. UNQUOTE; October 22, 2008 8:31 PM
Anonymous said...: After few months of investigation, it seems that there are no significant progress how those involved banks will be responsible for their fault. I am one of investor too confident to the customer service manager on those products. When I asked them what benefits her bank got from those selling, she said tt they got nothing. This is an important point. If bank has certain amount of commission from those selling and they just fled away when the problem came out, is it fair to those innocent investors. Most of those investors made their saving from hard working and wealth between few hundred thousand to few million HKD. Let me call us "VICTIM " here. Customer relation manager called us again and again to promote those products to those victims. Most of us are those with stable saving in their bank. We can say that we are their good customer, leave life-earned saving for them to make loan and earn money. They sorted us out and hard selling those products to us. Claimed that this is the much safe investment than buying stock or even bond. Never mention the worst scenario to get nothing because those products don't have any collateral. Also, they don't mention the liability of their bank as well.
If Hong Kong government doesn't fine heavily on them or even cancel their licence, they will just buy time and let this case go. Understand that banks have to expand their business but their ethics seems a big question mark to me now. Though I still have small amount of saving left in the bank, they still called me recently for forex investment. I am so regret to refuse them. They are lier and just think about themselve. HKMA also needs to consider themselve how they strict commercial banks to use their ancient goodwill to cheat their cusotmers. The fundamental business of bank is to gather money from public and make loan to those borrower and earn the spread. They are the middleman to make the economy running. Trust is the first thing to build. That is why we do business with L/C from bank.; February 06, 2009 10:41 PM