bank

Criminal charges have today been laid against Members Equity Bank Limited, also known as ME Bank, in the Australian Federal Court.

What is it with Hong Kong and its banks? The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has just announced yet another one is the victim of a passing-off campaign by internet fraudsters. It's the third this week and it's only Thursday.

And then there's this "In view of the latest situation of COVID-19, the HKMA hotline and Coin Cart services are temporarily suspended. The HKMA Information Centre is also temporarily closed to the public. Please visit the HKMA website/official Facebook page for details or latest updates:

Hotline services: HKMA website
Coin Cart services: HKMA website / official Facebook page
HKMA Information Centre: HKMA website"

Perhaps in the Arab world the usual hook for spam-scammers of a few hundred thousand dollars, or even a couple of million, is small change. So this fraud is offering me more than 25 million (undefined) dollars in a most unusual manner. But then it turns to a bog standard, old fashioned, Nigerian (advance fee fraud) Scam.

It's the old, old story: someone has what they think is a great idea then forces others to adopt it against their wishes, even when their wishes take into account their own security arrangements. This time, it's a bank and even they disclaim risks they force customers to accept. It's either a snafu in policy or a snafu in communications.

Welcome to Standard Chartered, Malaysia.

There's a huge amount of excitement in Australia about the prosecution of several bankers for colluding in a share support scheme where a share issue did not fully sell out. Instead of being charged with market manipulation, itself a serious offence, federal prosecutors have taken the alternative of charging them with cartel offences. There's a lot of people spinning like tops, having panic attacks about what it means for investment banking and the professional support services like lawyers and accountants that are a central part of all public offers. But there is nothing complex about the fundamentals of the case.

Canada's Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions has issued a regulatory notice containing a reminder that there are a number of reserved words, particularly those relating to banking, which may not be used without authority, in relation to financial services. It goes far beyond the use of the words in the name of businesses and will tighten up sloppy language in marketing and so-called social media. It might, also, inadvertently, make the point that "fintech" companies are not banks and do not afford consumers the protection that governments provide to bank depositors.

This is such a massive topic that we can, today, do little more than make a placeholder article. How, one has to ask, does anyone "miss" tens of thousands of errors? We think it's probably not too difficult and banks, etc. should take note.