To Mr. Martin Wheatley on April 2 by LBV before the new compensation deal

Mr. Martin Wheatley
Chief Executive Officer
Securities and Futures Commission (SFC)
8th Floor, Chater House
8 Connaught Road, Central
Hong Kong
2 April 2011


Dear Mr. Wheatley,
Your New Appointment with FSA in UK vs.
Lehman Brothers Victims in Hong Kong
While you might be congratulated on your forthcoming appointment with the FSA’s Consumer Protection & Markets Authority (CPMA) in the UK as from 1 Sept 2011, you might spare a thought for our “Lehman Brothers victims” in Hong Kong in the meantime.

We think your disappointing track record as CEO of the Securities & Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong in the past few years shows you are not the appropriate personnel for the new position with CPMA. The fact that after such a long time, there are still Lehman Brothers victims demonstrating in Central and other places in the SAR is proof of SFC’s failure under your leadership to protect small investors and savers in Hong Kong.

Tens of thousands of ordinary, hard-working citizens in Hong Kong have lost significant amounts, for some representing their entire life savings, because SFC and HKMA have both failed in their regulatory roles in both prevention and enforcement.

The SFC has allowed extremely risky products, the Lehman Brothers “minibonds”, ELN’s and others, to be sold to the consumer public without any caution. After the demise of Lehman, the SFC cooperated with the culprit banks to “force” a 60% settlement, rather than to “enforce” a 100% reimbursement for systemic failures on the part of the financial institutions (except one and those brokers). The latter practice has been the international standard set by regulators in USA, UK, Australia and elsewhere; but you and the SFC in Hong Kong have opted for protecting the culprit financial institutions instead by limiting their liabilities to only 60%!

Mr. Wheatley, were you an incompetent regulator, impotent second-fiddle to the bankers, gagged corporate man, or did you simply not care about the weak you were supposed to protect? We have no way of knowing, but we do applaud one of your former colleagues who had the courage to speak the truth in front of the Legislative Council’s special sub-committee on the Lehman Brothers debacle. Of course, you will be leaving the mess behind before the sub-committee completes its proceedings, but we besiege you to tell the truth in public before your departure, to gain a modicum of justice for the suffering victims the SFC has so far disowned!