Wall Street Journal
Friday October 10, 2008
Lehman Bond Probe Widens
By JACKIE CHEUNG
HONG KONG -- The Hong Kong Monetary Authority said Thursday it is investigating nine banks over sales of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. "minibonds" that sparked protests from investors who said they were duped into thinking their money was safe.
The HKMA has received 7,730 complaints about the minibond sales and has opened 41 investigations, HKMA Deputy Chief Executive Y.K. Choi told a news conference.
Mr. Choi said the regulator supports a proposal for banks to buy back the products at market value, which would be less than what they were sold for, and he said some banks have backed that idea as well.
Mr. Choi didn't identify the banks being investigated or provide figures for money lost by investors who invested in the structured products known as minibonds, which allegedly were marketed as secure bonds.
Mr. Choi said the HKMA might consider whether to stop retail banks from selling structured products like the Lehman minibonds and leave such dealings to professional investment consultants.
Investors have staged protests, with some complaining they lost millions of Hong Kong dollars in the minibonds tied to Lehman Brothers, the former Wall Street powerhouse that filed for bankruptcy protection last month.
One protest was held Wednesday outside the headquarters building of Bank of China Ltd.'s Hong Kong unit, BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) Ltd., with a group of investors going inside at one point to meet with bank officials.
A BOC Hong Kong spokeswoman, Carol Tam, said Thursday the bank had sold Lehman Brothers structured products. Ms. Tam said she wasn't aware of the bank being investigated but that it would cooperate with authorities if asked.
Mr. Choi said if irregularities are uncovered by the investigations , the HKMA will refer the matter to the Securities and Futures Commission.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122358113693820081.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Why all the actions happen in HK only? SAD.
ReplyDeleteWhere have all our good people gone to?
Singaporean belived that Slience is Gold, maybe Diamond. Unlike Hong Kong.
ReplyDeleteSingaporen already used to it. It is an painful experience, let move it on and forget it.
It has been happened so many time. History just repeated.
What can you do, if you just depend on a few people and the rest just standing and waiting to see what happening?
雷曼前僱員：為攻零售 迷債包裝扭曲信息
ReplyDelete(明報)10月13日 星期一 05:05
【明報專訊】雷曼迷你債券引發的重大損失，除了禍及本港小投資者，新加坡 和台灣 也有人「中招」，偏偏英､美投資者卻安然無恙。這是由於英､美監管要求較諸亞洲嚴謹？抑或另有因由？ 早年曾在紐約 和倫敦 雷曼工作､專責分析結構產品的黃元山認為，這與法規沒有直接關係，反而是因為監管機構在實際執行上更加嚴格，加上英美發行商從一開始就不會想到賣給散戶，造成了兩個截然不同的結果。
黃元山接受本報記者訪問時指出，英國 和美國 的法規要求，其實與本港相差無幾，監管機構也沒有明文禁止哪類投資產品不可售予散戶。然而，在實際執行時，英､美可能較本港嚴格，因兩地之前都出現過重大的違規銷售（mis-selling）風波，「凡是經過重大事故，監管機構把尺，都會收得緊一些，正如這次迷債事件，日後證監會 和金管局 ，都會在這類產品銷售上，睇緊一點。」
複雜債務抵押證券過分簡化
對於迷債這類複雜結構的產品，得以在港落地生根，黃元山分析道，這與本港投資者肯試新投資產品也有關係。「你看ELN（股票掛鈎票據）香港幾多人玩，但其實風險好高，又好似窩輪､牛熊證，香港､或者亞洲投資者都會試，但你看英國､美國，其實無人買窩輪的。」正正是亞洲區散戶較容易接受新產品，發行商便看準機遇，將複雜的債務抵押證券（CDO），包裝成看似容易理解的產品，並向散戶推售。
英美不向散戶售結構產品
「在美國､英國，這類結構產品（如迷債），是不會賣給散戶的。」黃元山說。不賣給散戶，並非法規不許，而是發行商不會這樣做。他指出，英､美投資者習慣將錢放在退休基金或保險上，對其他產品類型興趣不大，以致發行商推出結構產品時，根本無想過賣給散戶。「我以前做這類產品，只會賣給機構投資者，其他發行商也是。我想沒有人試過走去SEC（美國證券交易委員會），問可不可以賣給散戶。」
黃元山認為，迷債這類涉及CDO的產品，之所以在港惹來軒然大波，問題並非出於產品本身，而是發行商為了打入零售市場，把投資者應該知道的信息，隱藏或扭曲了。（詳見另文）
投資者應知道的沒透露
有人將CDO比喻為毒債，既然如此可怕，本港是否要禁止這類產品售予散戶，或是交由監管機構做把關，劃分哪些結構產品，適合售予哪些投資者？「這又沒必要一刀切。」黃元山說：「CDO風險高低，是相對而言，對機構投資者來說，有3條A的CDO，其實是低風險。如你問我，我會說迷債這類產品是複雜，但不是高風險，前提是如果買CDO這一點有清楚的說明。」