12th Feb 2008
Philip Bowring
Investors are left to fend for themselves in the latest chapter of the global banking mess Asian investors who thought they could trust Standard Chartered, the venerable old British bank that has been around Asia for a century and a half, are whistling in the wind for their money.
The group, now 19 percent owned by the Singapore government through Temasek Holdings, is walking away from its US$7.2 billion structured investment vehicle (SIV), appropriately named Whistlejacket Capital. This pile of assets was sold in the form of notes to big-name, deep-pocket clients in Asia and the Middle East. But now that Whistlejacket’s assets have fallen sharply in value, today put at around half the level of six months ago, the bank no longer wants full responsibility for it. >>>> More
