If Warren Buffett lived in Hong Kong, his bank would have to ask him to bring along a relative or friend when making decisions about financial products. Buffett, you see, is over 65.
It is not clear whether this means that some of Hong Kong's best known but rather senior investors such as Li Ka-shing and Lee Shau-kee are to be trusted to take investment decisions all on their own, but this warning to senior citizens most certainly applies to lesser mortals like us.
This is because in the wake of the minibond debacle, bank failures and the stock market crash following the crisis of 2008, Hong Kong's financial institutions are busy shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted and, of course, working assiduously to cover their own backsides.
The advice that people over 65 or with an education level not exceeding primary school should bring along friends or family to assist them in making investment decisions is among a series of new requirements supposedly designed to ensure 'investment protection'.
The minibond saga revealed that complex financial products were being sold to customers (many of whom were elderly) who did not really understand what they were buying. The more recent launch of yuan sovereign bonds persuaded the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to remind banks demand for this product was likely to attract considerable interest from people unfamiliar with sovereign bonds and would therefore need to be properly explained.
Both the HKMA and the Securities and Futures Commission have issued guidelines for institutions selling financial products to retail customers that, among other things, oblige them to collect risk assessment data. In regulator's jargon, this is a 'suitability test'. Part of this test involves customers completing financial profile forms that allow banks and brokers to better understand the customers' risk tolerance and financial awareness.