TWO former senior employees of UOB Kay Hian Private Limited (UOBKH) were charged on Wednesday for allegedly lying to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in relation to reports on a then Catalist aspirant. Lan Kang Ming, 38, and Wee Toon Lee, 34, each face three charges of providing MAS with false information in October 2018 in relation to due diligence reports on an unidentified company applying to list on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange. MAS said in a media statement on Wednesday that it was performing an onsite inspection of UOBKH between June and August 2018, to assess the latter's controls, policies and procedures in relation to its role as an issue manager for Initial Public Offering (IPOs). During the examination, Lan and Wee were said to have provided different versions of a due diligence report relating to background checks on a company applying to be listed on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange. UOBKH had acted as the issue manager
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By Lynn Thomasson, Bloomberg
23 June 2011
Chinese companies in Hong Kong are less likely to fool investors than those in the U.S. because the city’s bourse does more to prevent fraud, said Charles Li, chief executive officer of Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd.
The MSCI China Index of 147 stocks available to foreign investors is down 10 percent since reaching a five-month high on April 21. That compares with a 28 percent plunge by Chinese companies that went public through U.S. reverse mergers, in which a closely held company buys a publicly traded shell and retains the U.S. listing.
While bearish bets on the MSCI China have climbed to a record, Li says companies listed in Hong Kong are subject to too much scrutiny to deceive the market for long.
“I’m not saying we have a superior system, but we do have a more prescriptive system for vetting issuers and we have a more prescriptive and sometimes a little more burdensome process,” said Li in an interview from Hong Kong. For some Chinese companies that listed in the U.S, “particularly through reverse takeovers, I don’t know how they ended up there,” he said, without referring to any specific offerings. “They wouldn’t have seen the light of day here.”
China’s reputation among investors was strained after short sellers said companies from Longtop Financial Technologies Ltd. to Sino-Forest Corp. were exaggerating operations. Sino-Forest has slumped 84 percent in Canadian trading since June 1, the day before Carson Block of Muddy Waters LLC said it overstated timber holdings.
Hong Kong’s Advantage
“Hong Kong has the advantage of being much closer to the mainland language-wise and culturally,” he said. “If I were going to run a fraud, I would find the most gullible people and if the locals in my backyard know that I don’t have a business here, then I will go abroad.” Li said investors in Hong Kong aren’t immune to fraud, either.
“Regulation can always improve and it’s there to prevent detectable fraud, but when you have people that are determined to scheme the system, there’s only so much regulators and professionals can do,” Li said. “No matter how stringent your regulatory system works, the bad apples will still exist.”
The former management of China Forestry Holdings Co. falsified bank documents and logging permits, the company said in an April 29 filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange. China Forestry halted trading in its stock in January and replaced Chief Executive Officer Li Han Chun. Li was detained by police in China’s Guizhou province in February for allegedly embezzling 30 million yuan ($4.6 million).
‘Lower Quality’
“While there’s a great macro story about China, the micro story is still one of lower-quality companies,” said Nicholas Yeo, the Hong Kong-based head of China and Hong Kong equities at Aberdeen Asset Management, which oversees $290 billion. “It’s only now that investors are starting to wake up and pay attention to the individual companies. You can’t go in blindly.”
About 4.8 percent of shares available for trading among companies in the MSCI China have been shorted, the highest level on record, according to data compiled by Data Explorers since 2006. That compares with 2.9 percent at the beginning of the year. Short investors bet against a stock by selling borrowed shares with the hope of buying them at a lower price.