Asia-Pacific News

Chinese "misled by Hong Kong banks" lost 64 million dollars

Aug 1, 2009, 5:08 GMT

Hong Kong - A group of mainland Chinese investors claim they lost 500 million Hong Kong dollars (64 million dollars) after being misled by Hong Kong banks, a media report said Saturday. The banks - HSBC, Hang Seng Bank, Citibank, DBS Bank and ABN Amro Private Banking - were accused by the Chinese investors of selling high-risk equity accumulator investments as low-risk products, the South China Morning Post newspaper said. They also reported the banks' activities to police. Equity accumulators offer shares at discounted prices but require investors to buy the same stock at the same price over a fixed period. The risk is that if the stock price goes down investors still have to buy the shares at the original price. 'We were misled by Hong Kong banks into purchasing stock accumulators. We were not warned about the risk of the products,' said Jacky Jin Liang, who heads the group of allegedly duped investors. The city's banking regulator, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, and several local legislators pledged to investigate the group's claims.

Asia-Pacific News

Chinese "misled by Hong Kong banks" lost 64 million dollars

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