Monetary Authority and SFC have passed the buck to Hong Kong's banks

I sympathise with Bernard Chan ('Service and efficiency get lost in maze of bank rules', August 26) as I have recently experienced similar frustrations as a result of the Securities and Futures Commission's (SFC) bureaucratic response to the Lehman Brothers minibond debacle.

They require that banks comply with a client suitability assessment in order to 'know your client'. I have been investing in equity funds for more than 20 years with my bank, and they know me well.

My recent risk profile questionnaire indicated that I am a 'conservative' investor, and therefore, according to the SFC code of conduct, equity funds are off-limits and my bank can no longer process my instructions.

I resent the SFC's 'nanny' interference. I am managing my own savings and I want to be responsible for my own investment decisions. I have therefore switched my account to Singapore where my transaction instructions can be processed without hindrance.

The government has a policy to develop financial services as a key industry, but our public servants' blinkered actions are forcing business offshore, and the industry is not 'happy'.

The minibonds saga exposed deficiencies in Hong Kong's regulatory structure, and therefore offered a great opportunity for the system to be overhauled and improved. This required that the regulators take more responsibility for financial product risk assessment and accreditation.

It is not a case of 'know your client', but, rather, does your client reliably know the inherent risk to capital of the financial products being offered. It is fundamental that the decision to buy or not must be for the client [to make].

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the SFC have passed the buck to the banks. Why are we paying these regulators their huge salaries if they are unwilling to regulate?

Their action is not to genuinely protect us and improve the financial industry, but to avoid responsibility and public criticism.

This is sadly symptomatic of how Hong Kong has been governed under Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's leadership.

Christian Rogers, Wan Chai