HKMA welcomes HKAB announcement and
appoints independent adviser on Lehman minibonds

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) welcomes the distributing banks' agreement today (Friday) to the Government's buy-back proposal for the Lehman Minibonds.  The HKMA notes that the Task Force has appointed an independent financial adviser for the valuation of the collaterals for the Lehman minibonds.  

To ensure that the investors receive fair treatment under the proposal, the HKMA has today in parallel appointed Price Waterhouse Coopers as an independent adviser to review the process and strategy adopted by the distributing banks in implementing the proposal. "The HKMA aims to ensure that the investors receive fair treatment through appointing the independent advisor to oversee the valuation process," the HKMA spokesman said. 

For further enquiries, please contact:
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480 or
Peggy Lo, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687  

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
17 October 2008