SCMP:HKMA chief to disclose full report at closed-door Legco meeting

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority chief has finally agreed to disclose its full report on the sale of Lehman Brothers-related products, but only to the Legislative Council subcommittee investigating the saga.

"We have been asking Joseph Yam [Chi-kwong] to give us the omitted parts of his review report, which was submitted to the financial secretary at the end of last year," Raymond Ho Chung-tai, chairman of the subcommittee set up to study the minibonds debacle, said yesterday. "He wrote back to us yesterday afternoon saying he would be willing to give us the whole report under closed-door conditions and explaining why he is seeking public interest immunity."

Both the HKMA and the Securities and Futures Commission prepared reports on the lessons learned and issues they identified during an investigation into complaints about the Lehman Brothers-related products at the request of Finance Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah. But some parts of the reports were not disclosed because the banking and securities regulators said their investigations would be affected by doing so.

The closed-door meeting on the report will be held as early as Friday, Mr Ho said. Asked if the subcommittee would make the non-disclosed part public, he said lawmakers would decide on this.