Why do bankers think they know better than 13-year-olds?
We discussed yesterday the predicament for those under 18 years old presented by the Hong Kong government's invitation for all those holding a valid Hong Kong identity card to apply for its latest issue of iBonds. To subscribe to the inflation-linked bonds one requires an investment account with one of the placing banks. As one reader, Paul Stables, discovered when he tried to open a joint investment account with his 13-year-old daughter, HSBC requires that investment account holders be 18 years old. There is no legal requirement for those opening an investment account to be 18 years old. However, Stables was told by the man at HSBC that 'those under 18 don't understand the risks involved'.
Looking back over the events of the global financial crisis, it is evidently true that there are many people in the banking industry well over the age of 18 who have considerable difficulty dealing with the risks of investment. Indeed it is highly unlikely that a 13-year-old will ever lose anything like the billions that HSBC's 18-plus-year-old professionals managed to do in recent years. But that's another story.
Having been rebuffed by HSBC, Stables then took his case to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, which confirmed that applicants for an investment account were bound by the conditions stipulated by the placing intermediaries, which could involve an age restriction. It was up to Stables to find a placing agent that did not have an age restriction. Not so, Stables argued. 'How come the government says anyone with a valid ID card can subscribe to the bonds, while the banks then say, in effect, this not true,' he said. 'Only those over 18 can subscribe. Who is calling the shots here?'
Donald Tsang has a paralytic moment
Good to see that Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's recent trials and tribulations have not left him entirely without a sense of humour. Speaking as the guest of honour at the British-consulate-organised royal birthday and diamond jubilee party on Monday evening, he ruefully compared Queen Elizabeth's popularity to his own. 'Remarkably, Queen Elizabeth still enjoys the respect of the British people and the affection of people in the Commonwealth and beyond' - and that despite reigning for 60 years. By comparison, his own approval rating had slipped from 70 per cent when he became Hong Kong's chief executive and 'at the last count was 40 per cent and falling - and that's after only 71/2 years,' which earned him a big laugh.
Tsang ended his speech with a George W. Bush moment. He sent his warm congratulations to the queen and then wished London every success in hosting the Olympics and the 'paralytics'.