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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Reuters
24 October 2013
An association representing Singapore’s retail investors has called for a probe into a recent plunge in the share prices of three companies, putting more pressure on the Singapore Exchange Ltd (SGX) to explain the volatility.
SGX, both the market operator and regulator, suspended trading in shares of Blumont Group Ltd, Asiasons Capital Ltd and LionGold Corp Ltd on Oct 4, after sharp declines in their stock prices erased billions of dollars in market value from the three firms.
SGX then slapped trading restrictions on them for two weeks. While the restrictions have since steadied those stocks, neither the exchange nor the body overseeing SGX the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has given any indication a formal investigation into what went on is underway.
“We call on the authorities to investigate the spike in the stocks and their subsequent collapse in price. The investing public needs to be advised on the action which the authorities are contemplating,” said David Gerald, chief executive of the Securities Investors Association (Singapore).
SGX and the MAS were not immediately available to comment.
The stocks lost up to S$8.7 billion (US$7 billion) in combined market value in just two sessions, and turned back into the penny stocks that they were before their dramatic gains earlier this year.
Under the trading curbs, the first to be imposed on any Singapore-listed stocks for five years, SGX declared the stocks as “designated securities.” That means traders could not short-sell them and had to pay for any purchases with cash upfront.
SGX says the curbs are imposed when it suspects there has been manipulation of the security, excessive speculation or if it is otherwise in the interests of the market to do so. The exchange has not commented further on whether it believes there was manipulation or excessive speculation in the stocks.
Traders had said several brokerages in Singapore could lose millions of dollars following the sharp declines.
Kevin Scully, executive chairman of equity research firm NRA Capital, said SGX had come under pressure but he expects an initial investigation would take at least six months as the regulatory bodies query market participants and companies.
“I think it will be a two-staged affair,” he said.
The first step was to stabilise any systemic risk to the market, Mr Scully said.
Scully said the regulators will also be looking at ‘were the stocks cornered?’ and ‘were the market forces not allowed to operate freely?’ Analysts had said the gains in the three stocks were not been backed by obvious business fundamentals.
“Right now, the brokers would be trying to recover losses from their investors. That could be taking legal action against them or seizing their assets. That is probably what’ll happen over the next couple of weeks to months,” Mr Scully said.
“I think now we are in a capital recovery mode.”