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The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (April 5) that investigation of over 99% of a total of 21,851 Lehman-Brothers-related complaint cases received has been completed. These include:
го15,769 cases which have been resolved by a settlement agreement reached under section 201 of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Note 1);
го3,370 cases which have been resolved through the enhanced complaint handling procedures required by the settlement agreement;
го2,467 cases which were closed because insufficient prima facie evidence of misconduct was found after assessment or no sufficient grounds and evidence were found after investigation;
го25 cases (including minibond cases) which are under disciplinary consideration after detailed investigation by the HKMA, of which proposed disciplinary notices are being prepared; and
го168 cases in respect of which investigation work has been completed and are going through the decision process to decide whether there are sufficient grounds for disciplinary actions or whether the cases should be closed because of insufficient evidence or lack of disciplinary grounds.
Investigation work is underway for the remaining 50 cases.
(A table summarising the progress of the disciplinary and complaint-resolution work in respect of Lehman-Brothers-related complaints is attached.)
For general enquiries, please contact:
Dedicated hotline, at 8100 2314
Notes:
1. These are cases where eligible customers accepted the settlement offers made by the distributing banks in respect of Lehman Brothers-related investment products in accordance with the agreements reached under section 201 of the Securities and Futures Ordinance. The HKMA has informed the distributing banks that, since these agreements contain detailed arrangements for settlement of claims and the implementation of robust systems for selling unlisted structured investment products and dealing with related customer complaints in future, it is not the intention of the HKMA to take any enforcement action in relation to the Lehman Brothers-related cases that involve eligible customers who accept the settlement offers made by the distributing banks pursuant to these agreements.
Ends/Thursday, April 5, 2012
Issued at HKT 16:31
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