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Dozens
of Hong Kong investors in failed Lehman Brothers-backed derivatives who
were left out of a recent settlement protested Sunday outside the
headquarters of the territory's central bank.
About 37,000 investors who bought more than 15.5 billion Hong Kong
dollars ($2 billion) of Lehman-related financial products saw their
investments cast into doubt after the U.S. investment bank collapsed
last September. Angry investors said the banks who sold the products
misled them about the risk.
Hong Kong regulators announced a settlement last month that requires
the banks to return up to 70 percent of the principal to thousands of
investors. But the deal excluded "experienced" investors who bought
complex structured financial products at least five times over the past
three years.
Those "experienced" investors protested Sunday, clutching signs that
said "I am not experienced" and demanding that they be included,
footage from Hong Kong's Cable TV showed. The report said many of the
nearly 100 demonstrators were elderly.
Critics have questioned the "experienced investor" classification,
saying it would include elderly investors who blindly trusted bank
sales staff.
Calls to Hong Kong's central bank, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority,
and the Chinese territory's Securities and Futures Commission went
unanswered.
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