HKMA urges banks to act on allegations over structured products

Date: Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Author: Alfred Liu, The Standard

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has asked banks selling complex structured products issued by Morgan Stanley to inform clients when such items become more risky.

It urged the banks to investigate allegations of mis-selling of these products.

The HKMA will also investigate those retail banks for any alleged marketing misconduct involving sales of credit-linked products, called Octave Notes, which have plunged in value, deputy chief executive Choi Yiu-kwan told a Legco panel yesterday.

"Distributors have to assess related transactions of products to see if there's been any mis-selling. If yes, they have to report to the HKMA," Choi told the Legco subcommitee probing the Lehman minibonds fiasco.

Choi said HKMA would not start issuing warnings when any structured products start to lose value. "It's inappropriate for regulators to warn against a specific product or a specific issuer when there's potential problems," Choi said. "When something happens, the issuer is responsible for minding investors."

Raymond Ho Chung-tai, chairman of the subcommittee, said the Securities and Futures Commission has so far declined to make public three reports on the minibonds fiasco. He said the subcommittee will continue to push for release of those reports.