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 issu...
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Goh Eng Yeow
09 October 2013
Confusion reigned for a second day yesterday over three stocks “designated” by the Singapore Exchange: Blumont Group, Asiasons Capital and LionGold Corp.
Traders tried to grapple with the rules laid down by the SGX on buying and selling the shares.
While they understand that they have to make upfront cash payment if they want to buy any of the three counters, the rules are less clear on when they are able to sell the shares.
According to dealers contacted by The Straits Times, the earliest a trader can sell a “designated” stock is four days after he has made a purchase. This is because even if he has made cash payment, his shares will be credited to his Central Depository (CDP) account only on the fourth day, when settlement is made.
In the meantime, unless he already has shares of the “designated” stock in his CDP, he is not allowed to sell its shares or he would be infringing SGX rules which prohibit the short-selling of designated securities.
Trading of the trio has been “designated” by the SGX since Monday, after it lifted a trading suspension imposed one hour into trading last Friday when the share prices of the three counters collapsed in heavy trading.
In imposing the curbs, the SGX said it may declare a counter to be a designated security if it believes there has been manipulation or excessive speculation in the stock.
Owing to the confusion over the trading rules on designated stocks, many traders might have inadvertently bought shares in the trio on Monday and then sold them on the same day without realising that they were infringing the SGX short-selling rules.
Dealer Thomas Lee said: “When Blumont crashed from its pre-suspension price of 88 cents to an intraday low of 11.5 cents in the first hour of trading on Monday, many people jumped in to buy the counter. They then sold off when the stock rose to 30 cents in the next hour.”
It was only in late afternoon trading that questions began to emerge. “You can see Blumont, LionGold and Asiasons crashing when traders realised they could not sell the stocks after buying them,” he added.
Remisier Charlie Lim said SGX should have been more specific in spelling out the rules.
“SGX makes the new buyers of the three stocks sitting ducks by not allowing them to sell, even though they have paid up in cash. This is not fair.”
Yesterday, as the realisation sank in, the three stocks succumbed to a further selling wave. Asiasons slumped 22.67 per cent and LionGold dived 24 per cent. Blumont, which shot up 130 per cent at the opening bell, ended flat, despite attracting a new investor who promised to pump fresh money into the company.
Mr Lim said: “When the buyers realise they have to wait four days to sell, they run away, leaving no support for the designated counter. This makes the sellers even more desperate and aggravates the selling pressure.”