Anarchy in the financial markets!

 If regulators don't fix the lawlessness in international financial markets, future losses might us all in

THE lawlessness that pervades the international banking industry and especially the large Western banks must raise serious questions as to what perpetuates such barbarous behaviour among the custodians of people's money.

A big part of it is that the banking industry operates on greed rewarding its key employees via commissions for businesses brought in, deals made, and products sold even if they were dubious in the first place.

This encourages among the industry a bunch of highly dishonest salesman who shield themselves behind a veil of professionalism to dupe and seduce customers into believing their products are good and their processes are strong, secure and fair.

And they are aided by ineffectual regulators who parrot the trite phrase that free markets should not be overly regulated but turn a blind eye when the biggest financial institutions amass massive positions to fix markets and deceive customers, making a mockery of market freedom.

The Angel of Independence monument stands in front of HSBC’s headquarters in Mexico City. Europe’s biggest bank has been found laundering billion of dollars for drug cartels, terrorists and socalled pariah states, in a scandal which almost overshadows the Barclays’ one. — Reuters

The integrity of free markets was compromised because big players could affect the direction of markets, making the markets way less than perfect. Free markets basically became unfettered freedom to make money even at the expense of the market and the potential collapse of the world's financial system.

They did it yet again or to be more accurate they did it earlier but their misdeeds surfaced once more recently. UK's Barclay's bank made a US$453mil settlement with regulatory authorities in the United Kingdom and the United States for fixing the London interbank offered rate (Libor).

Now, it turns out that Barclay's may not be the only one. According to a Reuter's report, other major banks are likely to be involved and may try and go for a group settlement with regulators, the US' Commodities Futures Trading Commission and the UK's Financial Services Authority.

The banks being investigated include top names such as Citigroup, HSBC, Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase. They all declined to comment to Reuters.

And one of these banks, Europe's biggest HSBC, has been found laundering billion of dollars for drug cartels, terrorists and so-called pariah states, in a scandal which almost overshadows the Barclays' one. That leads to the question of whether other banks were involved as well.

If they jointly fixed the Libor, the world's most used reference rate for borrowings and derivatives with an estimated US$550 trillion, yes trillion, of assets and derivatives tied to the rate, it will be a scandal of epic proportions and may result in settlements of an estimated US$20bil-US$40bil.

That settlement will only scratch the surface. Just 0.1% of US$550 trillion is US$550bil. That implies that if banks had been able to fraudulently fix Libor so that it was just 0.1 percentage points higher, customers throughout the world would have had to pay US$550bil more in interest charges in a year.

In March this year, five US banks, including Bank of America, Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase, made a landmark US$25bil settlement with the US government for foreclosure abuses.

Even so, only a small fraction of affected house buyers are expected to benefit from this. Many other banks, however, are relatively unaffected and have not been fully called to account for their role in the US subprime crisis, which could have caused a collapse of the world's financial system.

Banks which bundled together risky housing loans into credit derivative products and passed them off as those with higher credit rating than their individual ratings, aided by ratings agencies, got off scot free. No one was called to account.

That the financial system is still vulnerable and that all gaps have still not been closed is JP Morgan's recent loss of up to US$4bil from rogue trading by a London trader going by the name of The Whale.

There needs to be a new set of rules, regulations and behaviour one based on ethics, honesty, competency and checks and balances. Custodians of public money should be required to be above all else honest first and foremost.

They should be consummate professionals whose first duty should be to protect the deposits of customers and the bank's capital. They should not do anything which puts the bank at undue risk.

The insidious habit of rewarding those who bring in revenue with hefty commissions have to be stopped so that bankers do not take risks which put their banks at undue risk which will eventually require trillion of dollars in rescue from governments.

Regulators should again make clear demarcations between those financial institutions who are custodians of public money and those who are not and hold the former to much higher standards of accountability and integrity.

Shareholders of financial institutions who are custodians of public money should be led to expect a lower rate of return on their investments but they should also be led to expect a lower corresponding rate of risk befitting that of major institutions which are so vital for the proper functioning of the economy.

Enforcers should focus on bringing individuals responsible for these losses to book and throwing criminal charges at them which will put them behind bars for long periods of time, befitting their severity. Society at large tends to treat white-collar criminals with kid gloves.

When derivatives trading and deception brought major Wall Street firms such as Enron and WorldCom to their knees and eventual collapse in the early 2000s, enforcers brought to book key executives who are spending time behind bars.

But despite the near collapse of the world's financial system, despite fraudulent behaviour, despite misrepresentation and deception, despite selling structured products of dubious value and then promptly taking positions against them, despite fixing of reference interest rates, despite money laundering and despite many other crimes still to be unearthed, no one has been brought to account.

Fining institutions leaves those individuals responsible free. In fact, settlements made come with the agreement that there will be no prosecution of individual bank staff and gives major incentive for others to do the same.

They are safe in the belief that the institution will pay the price and they will go free in the event things turn wrong. Otherwise, they will end up millionaires and even billionaires. How convenient an arrangement!

There is anarchy in the financial markets and a state of lawlessness which encourages heists of unimaginable proportions without risk of punishment. If we don't watch it, the losses will do the world economy, and all of us, in.

A Question of Business
By P. GUNASEGARAM

> Independent consultant and writer P. Gunasegaram (t.p.guna@gmail.com) is amazed that people can get away with so much by just repeating two words: free markets.

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Malaysia's Days in the Sun - WSJ

New York, Hong Kong, London...Kuala Lumpur? Malaysia is going gangbusters. Now, it must sustain the momentum.



The Southeast Asian nation is home to the world's second and third largest initial public offerings this year—the $3.3 billion listing of Felda Global Ventures 5222.KU 0.00% and IHH Healthcare's $2 billion IPO. Meanwhile, the benchmark KLCI hit a record Wednesday after rising almost 7% this year.

State backing for Malaysian equities is a factor. Felda's IPO was largely bought by government-backed investors such as individual Malaysian states. Mandatory retirement savings boosts domestic pension funds that typically invest a lot in the local market too.

The economy is also performing well. Unemployment is low. Inflation is benign at about 2%. Gross domestic product growth is around 5%. That is important because the Malaysian stock market is mainly comprised of domestically focused companies.

Diverse exports are also relatively robust. Commodities like palm oil, petroleum and gas make up about a quarter of exports, while electronics and manufactured goods make up the rest. HSBC notes that Malaysia's exports are down just 2% since last August, compared to a 13% aggregate decline for shipments from Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

The country's banks look healthy too. Asset quality is strong and deleveraging by European banks isn't a big threat, says Moody's. "Their claims on the Malaysian economy amount to a mere 5% of GDP," notes the rating company.

Still, there are risks that warrant caution. A prolonged slump in global trade would hurt. Net exports are equal to about 16% of GDP—much higher than the ratio for neighbors such as Indonesia and the Philippines.

Politics is a wildcard too. Prime Minister Najib Razak wants to improve infrastructure and boost investment in sectors including oil and gas and tourism. Investors must hope that agenda stays on track regardless of the outcome of an election expected by early 2013.

Much of the good news may be priced in. Malaysia's benchmark stock index trades at about 15 times current earnings. Some analysts say that is rich. Malaysia has momentum. But much now depends on domestic politics and the depth of the weakness in global trade.

Write to Cynthia Koons at cynthia.koons@wsj.com

Penang top politician's life tough?

Life’s tough at the top

Instead of ruling with skill and deftness, what comes out of Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's office is a steady rush of statements blaming the previous government or baiting its arch foes, MCA or Gerakan.

MANAGING success has been a difficult learning curve for DAP, once the country's premier Opposition party but now a ruling party in Penang and significant partner of a Pakatan Rakyat-ruling coalition in Selangor.

The Opposition party, founded in 1965, was swept into power on the back of the 2008 tsunami to lead Penang.

It came to the job with an image as a party preaching transparency and accountability but now after four plus rough years in power, DAP seems to be struggling to cope with its initial success, at least that's the perception.

Governing can be tough and DAP has been the first to admit that the honeymoon is long over. Party secretary-general and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng admitted in his first 100 days in power that it is a tough act to balance the different racial and socio-economic forces in the state. He had confessed that ruling was indeed tough and he had a steep learning curve.

Today, his administration, which was brimming with euphoria in 2008, is stuck on its own rails, unable to break free to energise the people of Penang a victim of its own success.

Instead of ruling with skill and deftness, what comes out of the 28th floor of Komtar, where Lim sits, is a steady rush of statements blaming the previous government or baiting its arch foes, MCA or Gerakan.

While the rank-and-file party members throughout the country will be pleased with the constant baiting game, some of his own party members in Penang, who are either born in Penang or have put deep roots in the state, are not amused.

A Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia political analyst said: “I think the Chief Minister is in the process of transformation. He needs to act and talk more like a CM because right now he can't shed his combative, street fighter behaviour.”

Middle-class Penangites, whose living environment and homes are being threatened by hillside development, are not pleased. They want the state government to come to grips with this emotive issue.

It does not matter which government gave the approvals, what is more important is what is being done to put matters right.

The Chief Minister is caught in his own blame game, unable to get out of it to address the concerns of the people while some of his colleagues try their best to address the issues.

They hold dialogues, express concern and vow to do something about hillside development. But the statements coming out of the 28th floor just get more combative and provoking.

While the party's rank-and-file is happy, the statements infuriate the house-owning voters of Penang.

A Penang Chinese newspaper editor said: “Lim Guan Eng is so sure of the support he is getting from the Penang Chinese, who forms the majority, I do not think he really bothers what the press thinks of him. That's the reality.”

A large section of Malays, however, is alienated with the constant blame game in which they are not interested and want to see support for Islam, leadership of mosques and low-cost house ownership.

The escalating prices of houses and condominiums in the state are beyond the reach of most Malays as well as many Indians and some Chinese. The housing situation is no longer sustainable and potentially explosive.

As land is a state matter, they all look to the state government to make houses affordable but prices just keep escalating.

Furthermore, for the Malays, the abrupt resignation of DAP vice-chairman Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim in May citing “irreconcilable differences” has cast doubts on the party's multi-racial image.

DAP's plan to woo Malays in large numbers is effectively derailed.

“One or two Malay leaders in DAP does not make it multi-racial or reflective of Malay support. The likelihood is that the Chinese on the island will back DAP but on the Malay-majority mainland, the votes will go to Barisan Nasional or Umno to be more precise.”

The loss of Tunku Aziz, a former vice-chairman of Transparency International, who joined DAP in 2008, was incalculable.

For the Indians, who can make or break the winner or loser in four parliamentary and eight state seats, the on-going feud between DAP chairman Karpal Singh and Penang Deputy Chief Minister Dr P. Ramasamy is an eye-opener. It shows that DAP is also rife with battles of ego and personality.

Lim himself is caught in a controversy of his own but has denied having an affair with a former staff member who was later transferred out of his office.

Initially, he threatened to sue anybody who even asked him about Ng Phaik Kheng, also known as Rainbow, but later, he and his wife Betty Chew, a Malacca state assemblyman, came out to strongly deny it.

For weeks, blogs and Facebook users had a field day speculating on the matter and Ng's “no comment” answer only fuelled more speculation.

However, another political analyst said the controversy had no political impact and only made good gossip, adding that he was against the use of personal issues in any campaign. But perception is everything in politics and politicians more than anybody else know this intrinsically.

The DAP image, which was seen as squeaky clean when it came to power in 2008, has been dented in the four years that it has been in power.

Most political parties, after working hard for years to win power, however, fail to manage the success properly, losing at the more imaginative work of balancing different forces.

It is even more difficult to retain power because of shifting public perception, which is what Lim has to contend with in the next general election. Lim looks set to retain his Penang power base but the test will be whether his PKR and PAS allies can hold on to their seats to give him support in the state.

COMMENT By BARADAN KUPPUSAMY
baradan@pc.jaring.my

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Huduh is good for Malaysia?

Enough with hudud

The growing number of politicians in this country who think that hudud is a good idea for Malaysia should see the video that is circulating online of the execution of an Afghan woman by her husband for alleged adultery.

HERE is a video circulating online which everyone in this country should watch:



It depicts the execution of an Afghan woman for alleged adultery. Her husband shoots her many times in the head while being cheered on by a crowd of men.

If anyone thinks this happened many years ago during the Taliban–era, they are sadly mistaken.
This gruesome event happened recently, in present-day non-Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

The authorities are now looking for the executioner who has predictably disappeared. But really they should arrest the entire crowd that watched it, as accessories to murder.

I think this video should be shown to the growing number of politicians in this country who think hudud is a good idea for Malaysia. In particular, it should be shown to those who have just called for the same.

If they can watch the video without at least blanching and truly think that’s what they want, then I hope they will be held accountable for not only the exodus of Malaysians from this country but also for the drastic reduction in foreign investments coming in.

If they want to blow us back to the Stone Age, then they should at least be made to answer for it.

What is it with some of our politicians who seem to have taken leave of their senses?

Is the loathing for reading and knowledge so widespread that they have to show it off with such ill-informed statements?

In a world where problems are increasingly sophisticated and complicated, is hudud the only response these people can come up with?

Maybe they should get out a bit more.

They might like to travel to places like Pakistan where the literacy rate is all of 55% and where, in some areas, only 22% of women can read.

Or, go to Iran where a full 40% of the population lives below the poverty line. They might also like to notice the vast numbers of children forced to do backbreaking work in the Middle East.

Or they can stay home and instead of reading the tabloids and beefing up their knowledge on which actress is about to marry which rich man, they might like to read up on our very own Federal Constitution which basically says that not only can’t you have hudud laws, you also can’t impose it on anyone who isn’t Muslim.

Unless they have some subconscious need to lose the elections for their beloved party, then they might pause and see where this is going.

But introspection is not a Malaysian strong point.

Somebody floats an “idea” that they think will attract some press attention and next thing you know, everyone else is jumping on the bandwagon.

Never mind that none of the so-called hudud punishments can be found in the Quran.

For years, our Government has steadily pooh-poohed the idea of having hudud in this country because that was what the Opposition (or at least some of them) wanted. For years those of us who knew that hudud did not belong in the 21st century have held on to that as our bulwark against theocratic rule in this country.

Now, however, the government supporters have changed their tune and are echoing the Opposition’s line all those years ago. They seriously think this is the way to win an election?

If hudud is to be implemented, then I hope someone realises that it has to be implemented fairly.

Therefore not only will petty thieves get their hands cut off but major-league million-ringgit bribe-takers too. And no doubt we will have morality police patrolling the streets and checking that everyone is being good.

MUSINGS
By MARINA MAHATHIR 

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• Hudud issue threatens Malaysian's future

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What’s minimum wage in Malaysia?

I REFER to the Minimum Wages Order which the Human Resources Minister made by notification in the Gazette on July 16.

Although the said Order comes into operation on Jan 1, it is frustrating and appalling that it does not define what components can constitute “wages” to make up the minimum wage of RM900 for Peninsula Malaysia and RM800 for Sabah, Sarawak and the Federal Territory of Labuan.

Throughout the Order, the term “wages” is used repeatedly without denoting clearly and explicitly whether the term refers to merely basic pay and/or includes fixed and regular allowances paid to employees e.g. shift allowances, attendance allowances, meal allowances, overtime meal allowances, laundry allowances, competency allowances, etc.

To add to the ambiguity, the illustration in Section 4 of the Order, introduces yet another undefined term “current basic wage”.

Is this meant to suggest that only basic wage can be part of the minimum wage?
While I understand that it is only an illustration, this does not help for purposes of clarity.
The National Wages Consultative Council Act 2011, under which the said Order was made, defines wages as having the same meaning assigned to it in section 2 of the Employment Act 1955.

The definition of wages under the Employment Act 1955 is “wages refer to basic wages and all other payments in cash payable to an employee for work done in respect of his contract of service.”

It excludes five types of payments which are mostly clearly defined. The definition of wages in the Employment Act 1955 is by no means a clear science.

Debate rages in the Labour Court even now, some 50 plus years after the Act was made law, as to what amounts to wages or not.

If one refers to paragraph three of the First Schedule of the Employment Act 1955, it states: “For the purposes of this Schedule wages means wages as defined in section 2 but shall not include any payment by way of commission, subsistence allowance and overtime payment”.

This means that under section 2 of the Employment Act 1955, commissions are part of wages. And since “wages” in the said Order refers to the definition of wages in section 2 of the Employment Act 1955, it follows that commissions are part of wages to make up the minimum wage.

Say if I hire a salesman and pay him a basic of RM500. In some months, when sales are good, he earns commissions in excess of RM400, and therefore his wages are more than RM900.

In other months, when sales are bad, his commissions are below RM400 and thus his wages are below RM900. It follows then that for the months where sales are good, I as an employer have not flouted the said Order whereas in the other months, I am in breach of the said Order.

Am I as an employer expected to watch the commission trend of each of my salesmen?

Imagine a car dealer who has 50 dealerships each hiring 20 salesmen. How am I to track this?

I do not underestimate the complexity of the issue of what components should or should not be part of wages.

I will be the first to agree that it is not an easy subject. However, if we are inclined to come up with a minimum wage with such uncertainty revolving around the word “wages”, surely the fixing of a minimum wage is to put the proverbial cart before the horse.

Let me remind the learned folks at the Human Resources Ministry and the Attorney-General’s Chambers that all these ambiguities are not doing any good to the employers or the employees; neither is it going to assist in its smooth implementation.

Unless a holistic and precise approach is made to the question of what constitutes “wages”, this very attempt to introduce a new regulation on minimum wages appears to be hurried through for political expediency and far removed from the concept of a high income society.\

FRUSTRATED HR PRACTITIONER
Kuala Lumpur

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Japan-China Territorial Dispute is Serious, and Escalating!

The Prime Minister’s residence in Tokyo has a “war room.”  During the a.m. hours of July 11 the room was bustling as government and Japanese

Self Defense Force officials studied intelligence and heard briefings on intrusions of three Chinese navy ships into waters around the Senkaku Islands (Diaoyutai Islands) claimed by Japan as its “exclusive economic zone”  (EEZ).

The three Chinese ships had entered Japan’s EEZ waters after 4 a.m. on the 11th.  They were met, followed, and ordered out of the EEZ by Japanese Self Defense Force ships.  They finally departed just after 8 a.m.

Later in the day, Japan’s deputy foreign minister summoned the Chinese ambassador to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and delivered a formal protest over the Chinese “intrusion.”

At the time, Japan’s foreign minister, Gemba Koichiro, was in Phnom Penh attending the ASEAN foreign ministers’ summit.  That day, the 11th, Gemba met in a hotel with Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi.  The meeting was scheduled to take 30 minutes.  It continued for 50 minutes.

This could not have been a pleasant meeting.   Very likely, it was lacking in the normal diplomatic decorum.  Seemingly overnight, Japan-China relations have turned icy, bitter, and emotionally charged.

The Gemba-Yang meeting was the first since Prime Minister Noda announced on July 7 that it had become Japanese policy for the central government to purchase the uninhabited Senkaku islands–now privately owned by Japanese interests and administered by Okinawa prefecture–that are also claimed by China, which calls the chain “Diaoyutai.”

Gemba’s talking points with Yang were scripted by Noda who had told reporters on July 7:  “There can be no doubt that the Senkaku Islands are part of Japanese territory, both under international law and from a historical point of view.  The Senkakus are under the effective control of our nation, and there is no territorial issue with any country over the islands.”  (The Yomiuri Shimbun, July 8.)

How Yang responded we can only guess.  We can imagine that the two men talked—or shouted—past each other, uttering almost identical, conflicting positions.

The incursion of the three Chinese vessels was plainly a response to Noda’s announcement, and a signal from China that “nationalization” of the islands by Japan would be met by further escalation.

Tokyo mayor Ishihara Shintaro first touted in April the idea of purchasing the islands, now owned by a man from Saitama prefecture, by Tokyo municipality.  Since then he has continued to advance this idea, setting up a special team in the Tokyo government under his direct control, and raising donations from around the country that reportedly now total more than JPY 1.3 billion (USD 165 million)

Ishihara’s announcement drew a furious response from Beijing.  Also, a public comment from Japan’s ambassador to China, Niwa Uichiro, a former president of one of Japan’s largest general trading companies (sogoshosha), C. Itoh & Co.

“If Ishihara’s plan is implemented, it will produce a crisis in Sino-Japan relations. We cannot let it ruin everything we’ve done in past decades,” Niwa was quoted as saying by the Financial Times on June 7.

This statement raised hackles in nationalist circles and in both major Japanese political parties.  To hard-liners, such a statement displayed weakness and lack of resolve, and sent the wrong message to China.

PM Noda seems to have hoped to quell some of the controversy and unify Japan’s response by “centralizing” Ishihara’s initiative and making it a national government initiative.

The confrontation between Japan and China on the Senkaku/Diaoyutai issue has escalated to a truly dangerous level.  Objectively it must be stated that it has been Japan that has done the most to raise tensions.  Further escalation cannot be in the interests of either side.  While his leadership in domestic policy matters has generally been laudable, even brilliant, in relations with China on this issue he seems captive to interests that would lead Japan into a trap.

When Japan and China established diplomatic relations in 1972, Premier Zhou Enlai agreed that the issue of Daiyutai (Senkaku) could be put to one side until the time for resolution “was ripe.”  In 1978, when the two countries concluded an historic peace treaty, Deng Xiaoping said of the issue that it could be settled by “our children and grandchildren.”

Japan seems compelled to force the issue with China, while China would very likely be satisfied to live with the status quo, as long as Japan would acknowledge that it too has a claim on the islands and surrounding area.   Diplomatic negotiation of some kind of modus vivendi and mutual efforts at resource development and safe-guarding navigation would be possible on this basis.

Nothing so positive seems likely under current trends.  Quite the opposite.  Increasing, and increasingly dangerous, confrontation seems to lie ahead.

By Stephen Harner, Forbes Contributor

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HSBC exposed: Drug money banking, terror dealings, money laundering!

Watch
HSBC hid '$16bn,' says a US senate
HSBC concealed more than $US16 billion in sensitive transactions to Iran, a US Senate panel says.
Play

Fullscreen

 
The HSBC Private Bank in Geneva Source: AFP 

SHAMED HSBC Bank executives have admitted to allowing Iran, terrorists and drug dealers to launder billions of dollars.

With the international banking sector already under fire for manipulating interest rates and reckless trading, HSBC said more should have been done to prevent years of abuse amounting to tens of billions of dollars of illicit transactions.

US politicians grilled HSBC executives and US Treasury officials for failing to guard against money laundering they said benefited Mexican drug lords and terrorist networks, and for their bypassing of sanctions on Iran.

"It's pretty shocking stuff," subcommittee chairman Senator Carl Levin said.

Among the findings was the revelation that HSBC and its US affiliate concealed more than $15.67 billion in sensitive transactions to Iran, violating US transparency rules over a six-year period.

The chief compliance officer of HSBC says he is stepping down from that position after the investigation.

But David Bagley, the head of compliance for London-based HSBC Holdings, told a Senate investigations panel that he will remain at HSBC.

Bagley and other current and former executives of the bank apologised for lapses but said they weren't fully aware of illicit transactions flowing through the bank.

Senators expressed scepticism that they didn't know about problems that persisted for seven years.

"I recognise that there have been some significant areas of failure," David Bagley said at a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee on Investigations.

"HSBC has fallen short of our own expectations and the expectations of our regulators," he said.

While Bagley said the bank has "learned a number of valuable lessons" he acknowledged that this "clearly took far too long to resolve."

In its 330-page report, the Senate found the lender allowed affiliates in countries such as Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh to move billions of dollars in suspect funds into the United States without adequate controls.

Bagley has been the head of compliance since 2002, during the period in which the Senate investigation found that HSBC's lack of oversight allowed the bank to be used by drug traffickers and possible financiers of terrorist groups, and for other illicit purposes around the globe.

Bagley said he lacked full authority over the bank's far-flung affiliates, which each had their own compliance officer.

HSBC executives were aware of the "concealed Iranian transactions" - which stripped all identifying Iranian information from documentation - as early as 2001 but allowed thousands of transactions to continue until 2007.

A review of HSBC's use of so-called U-turn transactions, in which funds are sent into and then out of the United States through non-Iranian foreign banks, showed the bank conducted almost $US25,000 transactions with Iran.

"The vast majority of the Iranian transactions, ranging from 75 to 90 per cent over the years, were sent through HBUS and other US dollar accounts without disclosing any connection to Iran," according to the report.

The US prohibits doing business with nations it regards as enemies such as Iran and North Korea, and its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OPAC) imposes tight filters to halt potentially prohibited transactions.

Levin said the bank willfully circumvented the OFAC filters.

The senator said senior HSBC officials in London "knew what was going on, but allowed the deceptive conduct to continue."

Under the slogan The World's Local Bank, the network that began life as the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation provides US dollars to HSBC banks in many countries under a procedure known as "correspondent banking."

But its compliance failures clearly spun out of control.

The report said HSBC's Mexican affiliate "transported $7 billion in physical US dollars to HBUS from 2007 to 2008 ... raising red flags that the volume of dollars included proceeds from illegal drug sales in the United States."

And it said HBUS "provided US dollars and banking services to some banks in Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh despite links to terrorist financing."

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‘Father of pen drive’ now a Datuk

Official recognition: Pua receiving a gift from his business partner Hotayi Electronics (M) Sdn Bhd general manager Goh Guek Eng after the investiture ceremony.

GEORGE TOWN: Pen drive inventor Pua Khein Seng was beaming with joy after being conferred the Darjah Setia Pangkuan Negeri (DSPN) award which carries the title Datuk.

“I was informed last week that I would be receiving the award. It was surprising news for me,” said Pua, who is CEO of Taiwan-based Phison Engineering Corp.

The 38-year-old Malaysian, who is popularly known as K.S. Pua, invented the pen drive when he was only 27. The father of three is even regarded as the “father of the pen drive” in Malaysia.

“I want to share this award with all Chinese-educated students who pursue their studies overseas.
“They must put more effort and strive harder. They must also be humble,” he said yesterday.

 

Pua, who hails from Sekinchan, Selangor, said the recognition was a form of encouragement for Malaysian talents to return and contribute to the country's development.

The former Pin Hwa High School student left Malaysia at the age of 19 to pursue his degree in electrical and control engineering at Chiao Tung University in Taiwan.

During his third year at Chiao Tung, he began conducting research into flash memory technology.

Pua founded Phison Electronics with four partners and produced the world's first USB flash drive with system-on-chip technology in 2001.

To date, Phison, which stands for “five persons”, boasts a market capitalisation of US$1.4bil (RM4.43bil).

Pua's success has brought him many awards in Taiwan including Outstanding Young Entrepreneur Award, Top 10 Outstanding General Managers' Award and the Electronics Research and Service Organisation Award from the Pan Wen Yuan Foundation.

In Malaysia, he received an Outstanding Youth Award as well as the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

A total of 346 out of 1,138 recipients received their awards during the second session of the investiture ceremony in conjunction with the 74th birthday of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas.

By KOW KWAN YEE kowky@thestar.com.my

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