Hong Kong Monetary Authority

SFC bans Pang Hon Pan, ex-Standard Chartered, for 21 monthsStatement of Disciplinary Action
SFC, 25-Nov-2020
The HKMA was originally going to ban him for 15 months, but then he appealed to the SFAT and then ducked a hearing by lying to them about undergoing quarantine after a business trip to the mainland - it wasn't a business trip and he wasn't in quarantine. The moral of the story is: when you are in a hole, stop digging. His offence was failing to disclose his brokerage accounts and dealings to his employer for 7 years.
Pang Hon Pan v HK Monetary Authority
SFAT, 14-May-2020
Mr Pang withdraws his appeal against disciplinary action (a suspension of 15 months for not disclosing his brokerage accounts to his then employer, Standard Chartered) and is ordered to pay HK$460k in costs to the HKMA, all of which are fees for barrister Norman Nip.
Why HK has no retail bond market
The HK Government's Pilot Bond Grant Scheme is needless corporate welfare and deflects from the real problem: by protecting bank profits from competition for funding and effectively excluding retail investors, the Government and HKMA are preventing a liquid, exchange-traded bond market from emerging. We explain what they need to do instead. (13-May-2018)
Hong Kong's not-so-free economy
The US-based Heritage Foundation has, as always, ranked HK as the freest economy in the World. For once, the Government doesn't accuse foreign forces of interfering in HK's internal affairs. But this rosy view is not held by those who take the time to study the domestic economy. Here are a few things that Heritage may have overlooked. (4-Feb-2018)
Belts and Burqas
Shortly before Christmas, the HK Financial Secretary announced the birth of the first Belt and Road bond in HK, the latest in a line of financial gimmicks designed to avoid meaningful regulatory reforms. (10-Jan-2018)
Webb on "Backchat" re the Exchange Fund and the structural tax surplus
RTHK, 4-Nov-2015
Heat on high-flier for airport slap
HK Standard, 30-Dec-2010
Apparently not as bad as slapping a cop then.
Government criticises Stamp Duty proposal
In a case of policy schizophrenia, the Government said a special stamp duty would be unfair, cause additional hardship to those in financial difficulties, and amount to double taxation. Then they proposed it anyway, based on a bunch of selective, deceptive and alarmist statistics, which we dissect. Legislators should kill this proposal or at least insert a sunset clause so that it expires with Donald Tsang's office. Exceptional times do not call for irrational measures. (26-Nov-2010)
Your ID number is not a password
There is a common misconception that HK identity card numbers are secrets, a misconception that Government is promoting by its policy actions, putting us on the road to increased abuse of the HKID and higher economic losses from fraud. To prevent this, the register of ID numbers and names should be published, after a transition to allow commercial abusers to stop abusing the ID for authentication. This article also looks at the unfulfilled potential of the Smart ID Card, including biometric authentication and electronic money. (8-Nov-2010)
SFC/HKMA settlement agreement with 16 banks over Lehman Minibonds, 22-Jul-2009
Company filing, 8-Oct-2010
HKMA official bailed after airport fracas
HK Standard, 23-Aug-2010
Well, that's one way of getting an upgrade.
HKMA looks for secret North Korean accounts
Chosun Ilbo, 5-Aug-2010
We note from filings that the only director of Taepung International Investment Group Ltd, incorporated in HK, is now Donald Koo Hoi Yan, a lawyer who served jail time in the Shanghai Land case. He apparently has a warm relationship with North Korea and has been involved with this company since its formation in 2006.
Shek Lai San v SFC & HKMA
HK Court of First Instance, 30-Apr-2010
A Lehman Minibond victim unsuccessfully seeks leave for judicial review of the SFC and HKMA's decision to reach a settlement agreement with 15 banks.
Keen Lloyd Energy Ltd v HKMA
HK Court of First Instance, 30-Apr-2009
Lessons from Lehman Minibonds
Webb-site.com looks beyond the Lehman minibonds fiasco and proposes three steps to reform the regulatory system for the sale of financial products. Without such reforms, there is a risk of either repeated crises or an outright ban on the sale of such products. Tell us what you think in our opinion poll. (20-Oct-2008)
Incredibubble!
What else can you call a US$3.2tn market which has gained 358% in 20 months and trades on a historic P/E of over 60, which is probably closer to 80-100 if you take out stock-market and real-estate revaluations from "E". We look at the bubble, the impact on HK, the thru-train, the calls in HK for an A-H arbitrage mechanism, and how the bursting may affect the socio-political system. The absence of a free media is itself contributing to the bubble. (16-Sep-2007)
Intervention Returns
We look at the HK Government's surprise disclosure of 5.9% of HKEx, where it might go next, and how it quietly scrapped a 5% benchmark on the Exchange Fund weighting in HK stocks, leaving it as the 2nd-biggest investor after the mainland Government. With about HK$1 trillion of surplus liquid assets, whatever happened to Donald Tsang's "big market, small government"? We call on the Government to return its surplus capital to the people with a 10-year program of deliberate budgeted deficits. (10-Sep-2007)
Yam's Thick Peg
After 18 months of destructive ambiguity, in which interest rates have been on the floor and property prices bubbling up to the ceiling, Joseph Yam has admitted the need for a two-way convertibility undertaking on the Hong Kong dollar. The bad news is that, for the sake of preserving bankers' jobs and banks' profits, we have a thick peg, 10 cents wide, and continuing uncertainty, rather than a fixed exchange rate. (27-May-2005)
Destructive Ambiguity
The Hong Kong dollar was pegged twenty years ago today. We take aim at Yambo's latest whacky doctrine of "constructive ambiguity". The whole point of the peg in 1983 was to reduce uncertainty, not increase it. Uncertainty attracts speculators and certainty turns them off. So how can you profit from all this? We'll tell you. (15-Oct-2003)
Creeping Dollarisation in HK
After ruling out dollarisation as an option in its Financial Market Review in 1998, the Government is embarking on a course that will lead to the next best thing. We take a look ahead to how the introduction of a US Dollar clearing system in Hong Kong may eventually lead to the sidelining of the Hong Kong Dollar to pocket change. (23-May-2000)
EFIL Announces Sale Plans
The Government has announced plans to sell off its surplus equity holdings as a unit trust, which we recommended in February. The plan is short on detail and fails to commit to a scheduled disposal programme, instead preferring to time the launch based on "prevailing market conditions". Has the motive behind the intervention changed from protecting the currency to one of maximising profit? At current prices, we calculate that the Exchange Fund will have to sell HK$177bn of shares, or 79% of its holdings, to reduce its portfolio to the target 5% weighting. (21-Jun-1999)
EFIL comes to LIFE
In recent days Exchange Fund Investment Limited, the HKMA's in-house investment adviser, has been asking a short-list of potential advisers what should be done with the HK$160 billion portfolio acquired in last August's intervention. In this article, we present our solution. (8-Feb-1999)
Government Stock Market Intervention
A commentary on the Hong Kong government's controversial intervention in the local stock market, which began on 14-Aug-98. This article covers our various activities in this area in 1998-1999. Webb-site.com was launched in Nov-1998. (31-Jan-1999)
Investor urges prosecution of Government
South China Morning Post, 16-Nov-1998
This article is from the South China Morning Post, 16-Nov-1998, regarding our correspondence with the SFC on the Government's market intervention.
Booms, Busts and Dollarisation
A presentation by David M. Webb to the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. (3-Nov-1998)
Dollarisation
Why dollarisation would be good for Hong Kong (3-Nov-1998)
Secrecy is the enemy of free-market philosophy
This letter, published in the South China Morning Post on 4-Sep-1998, estimated that the government had spent HK$120bn on its intervention. Later, on 26-Oct-98, the Government finally disclosed its holdings and that it had spent $118bn. (4-Sep-1998)
The Client that got away
A light-hearted look at the events of Summer 1998. (28-Aug-1998)
Cementing the marriage can save the family
This article by David M. Webb was published in the South China Morning Post. (26-Aug-1998)
Our letter on the Government's market intervention
This letter was published in the South China Morning Post on 20-Aug-1998. (20-Aug-1998)
Yam rejects accusations of creating false market through manipulationOur letter
South China Morning Post, 20-Aug-1998
An article from the South China Morning Post regarding our letter of the same date.

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