A group of a dozen investors in the so-called “Octave Notes”, credit-linked notes issued by Morgan Stanley, is accusing the local branch of the mainland’s Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) of providing them “misleading” information regarding the risks linked with this financial product. According to a representative of the group, the investors say they were misled into believing that the Octave Notes were a safe product, namely a bond connected with the People’s Republic of China. The investors, who handed a petition on the subject to the government last Monday, also accuse the Monetary Authority of Macau (AMCM) of doing a poor job in supervising and handling their complaints. Yesterday, AMCM issued a press release to follow-up on the complaints about the Octave Notes. According to the Monetary Authority, there are 270 investors in Macau who bought Octave Notes with an investment of MOP119 million in total, of which, MOP1.07 million and MOP17.76 million came from the affected series 21 and 22 respectively. Up to 26 July 2010, AMCM said it had received 27 complaints, involving a total investment amount of MOP15.78 million for the affected series 21 and 22. AMCM stressed that, after receiving the complaints about Octave Notes, it requested the distributing banks to follow up, respond to complainants and submit their investigation reports to AMCM together with their findings and other relevant information.
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