Why is the refund rate 20%? What responsibilities should BOC bear?

Editor’s note: This article comes from the WeChat public account “Wired Insight” (ID: lxinsight) , author Liu Meow, edit Shui Sheng. Released with authorization.

On May 6, Xiong Li finally waited for a call from the account manager of BOC.

As an investor of Bank of China’s “Crude Oil Treasure”, he experienced the sleepless night of “putting through positions” on April 22, not only lost 25W of principal accumulated over the years, but also carried a debt The bank’s debt, he originally wanted to save some more money to make the down payment of the house, thinking about starting a family, but everything stopped abruptly because of “crude oil treasure”.

While waiting for a solution from BOC, Xiongli was in a torment. He described “this is the darkest part of his life”. He joined multiple rights groups and saw many of them like him from the beginning. The people who collapsed and were stunned, and then opened the road to rights protection.

The number of people in the group is constantly increasing, and some have huge losses. The principal of hundreds of thousands, millions, or even tens of millions is the entire property of many people.

Since then, the Bank of China has issued announcements twice to explain the situation of crude oil treasure, but neither has a substantive solution.

On May 5, the Bank of China issued its third announcement and disclosed on the official website that the relevant branches of the Bank are currently actively communicating with customers in accordance with their opinions, and negotiating settlement on the basis of voluntary equality. If no settlement can be reached, both parties can resolve civil disputes through litigation, and BOC will respect the final judicial decision.

Announcement issued by Bank of China on May 5th, Tuyuan Bank of China official website

After this announcement was issued, Connect Insight learned that from the evening of May 5th to May 7th, some investors have received calls from the Bank of China. The Bank of China gave a solution for the first time.

Connect crude oil rights group where Insight is located

“The main purpose of the phone is to ask me to meet and settle, saying that the negative price loss will be borne by the Bank of China, and the principal will be returned to 20%. If you do not agree, you can choose to appeal,” Xiong Li told Connect Insight that he refused on the phone. This private settlement plan also stated that the settlement plan needs to be announced to clarify responsibilities in an open, fair and transparent manner.

According to a settlement agreement obtained from Investors by Connected Insight, BOC will bear the portion of the liquidation and return the funds deducted from the investor ’s margin account after settlement at a negative price.

A number of investors told Connect Insight that the negotiation plan they obtained was not to pursue the arrears and compensate 20% of the purchase principal. For this solution, a small number of investors choose to sign, and some choose to continue to protect their rights.

A settlement agreement obtained by connecting Insight

Yue Zhaoquan, acting lawyer of Crude Oil Investor and director of Beijing Weinuo Law Firm, told Wired Insight that his team has now accepted agency commissions from more than 50 Crude Oil Investors. This number is still increasing. Among the clients, the largest loss is more than 4 million yuan, and the client ’s claim is to recover all the losses.

He said that investors have a full legal basis to demand compensation for all losses, but they need to be finally approved by the court.

1 Why is BOC refunded 20%?

In the office of Bank of China, Zhang Man won an opportunity to meet and negotiate.

In the same room, there are twelve or three investors like her who received calls from major branches after May 5, “There are branch managers and account managers.” Zhang Man mentioned that the settlement plan they gave was not to pursue the owed part, and the principal compensation was 20%.

“But for this plan, we strongly disagree, so we did not choose to go to the sub-branch for reconciliation, but went to the provincial bank to seek further solutions.”Sight pointed out the reason for refunding the entire principal at three points, which is also the doubt of many investors interviewed by Connect Insight:

First of all, it is the product qualitative problem. Whether crude oil treasure is a illegal product, whether it is futures or financial management, BOC involves packaging futures into financial management, causing investors to misjudge its nature. If it was originally characterized as futures, many investors said that they would not invest, so it cannot be because of Lack of expertise in investment leads to the need to pay for huge losses.

Second, it is a question of risk assessment. Fill in the evaluation information before buying. Many people fill in that they can only withstand a loss of 20% to 30%, but now it leads to a short position, which is not in place to control the risk assessment of consumers. On April 15th, the Chicago Board of Exchange modified the trading rules to allow negative announcements. If the Bank of China gives a risk warning, many investors will choose to exit early.

Finally, it is the issue of publicity and tone. The relevant official propaganda of Crude Oil has mentioned that “Little White” can be bought, but in fact it requires professional knowledge and strong resistance to risk.

The three recordings of the communication and negotiation between investors and BOC obtained from Connect Insight show that BOC staff have responded to the above questions to varying degrees.

An account manager of Bank of China mentioned that Crude Oil is neither futures nor wealth management, but is a product linked to futures. It is an account trading product, similar to gold and silver account trading. “It is not linked to spot, just like Buying gold but not mentioning gold spot is purely a price difference and an opportunity for investment income. “He mentioned that this incident is like selling 5 pieces of the same bowl of noodles today, but the supplier raised the price and the middleman influences.

However, not all BOC employees will respond to the question of product characterization. Zhang Man asked the nature of Crude Oil Po from his provincial bank many times, “their person in charge told us that I cannot answer this question.” This is also the “answer” that most people get.

For April 15th, after the Chicago Board of Exchange revised the trading rules to allow negative numbers to be issued, why did BOC not give a risk warning? The communication records obtained from Connect Insight show that a branch president mentioned The modification system is global-level news, and customers should already know that BOC has no obligation to inform.

In the end, why did BOC decide to refund 20%?

Online Insight learned that an account manager of BOC pointed out, “According to the transaction agreement signed between BOC and investors, the minimum ratio of Crude Oil’s mandatory liquidation margin is 20%, which means that when the customer’s margin is less than 20 % Of the time, BOC had to force liquidation to avoid loss expansion, but at that time, BOC did not close the contract, so it was willing to bear this loss. “

BOC customer service has stated that margin is less than 20% Will force close the position, the source rights group

Reviewing the half-month of the crude oil treasure incident, BOC’s attitude has also undergone a major change. From the initial non-repayment, it will be included in the toughness of credit reporting, and now it is rumored that it is willing to bear negative price losses and compensate 20% of the principal. Such a change is related to the rights protection of all investors, and it is also related to the attention paid by the regulatory authorities.

On May 4th, the Finance Committee of the State Council held a meeting and mentioned the risks of some financial products, demanding the protection of the legitimate interests of investors. On the second day of the meeting, the Bank of China issued a settlement announcement.

But not all investors are able to accept this settlement plan. Zhang Man ’s loss in Crude Oil reached 1 million. She told Wire Insight, “Most of the people who are willing to sign are small investors because they are afraid Appealing is troublesome, but for large investors like us, it is impossible to agree. Bank of China did not specify the solution in the announcement, but settled privately, which is prone to differential treatment, which makes many of us feel unacceptable. “< / p>

In the face of investors who cannot accept the contents of the agreement, during the meeting and coordination, the staff of the Bank of China gave an answer, “The negative price of crude oil is indeed a once-in-a-lifetime situation. Investors’ appeals will be recorded and reported, but Please wait for the next batch of notifications before contacting. “

2 What responsibility should BOC bear?

Investors owed money owed to Bank of China, so they do n’t have to pay it back. This made some investors breathe for a while.

Some of them have been labeled as “attempting to get rich overnight” after the cross-cutting incident, but in fact, most people just want a slightly higher financial income.

Due to the lack of crude oil treasure in product risk notification, many people who cannot afford the risk enter, including students, the elderly, and even migrant workers.

Zhang Yongning is an “unexpected” investor. From his story, he can see the mentality of many “little white” investors and see the ins and outs of crude oil treasure.

He is a migrant worker. After working for a year, Zhang Yongning can only save 30,000 or 40,000 yuan. He has saved for decades. These savings are intended to be used for his son.For marriage.

In March, it was time for many people to pay attention to crude oil. The price of US crude oil futures dropped from a high price of US $ 60 at the beginning of the year to US $ 20. It may be possible to bargain the bottom of the crude oil plunge. This is the impression of many people on crude oil, but many ordinary people do not know that they can also fry crude oil.

BOC crude oil treasure promotional page, Picture Bank of China WeChat Public Account of Jiangxi Branch

Products such as crude oil treasure expose ordinary people to the opportunity to fry crude oil. Someone recommended it through a bank account manager, someone knew the crude oil treasure on the Bank of China’s WeChat account, Zhang Yongning saw this product on the Bank of China’s mobile app, he registered and bought crude oil without risk warning treasure.

“I think that the savings I have put here for so many years are also kept here, and because there is no way to go out to work because of the epidemic, there is no income. It is better to buy a financial management.” Zhang Yongning mentioned.

At that time, no one knew that this product would push themselves into the abyss. At the moment of purchase, the vision for the future emerged in their minds. It was the son who got a little more wedding gifts. It was a new house that could buy a few square meters more than expected. It was Zhang Man’s heart that wanted to open a bigger one. The good wishes of the clothing store.

But this little bit of expectation of life turned into a nightmare.

This historic event in the history of finance has been a warning from April 15th. On the same day, the New York Stock Exchange changed the trading rules to allow crude oil futures to be traded at a negative value. This is the first time in history.

On April 21, the oil price set a historical record of closing at -37 US dollars / barrel (-266.12 yuan / barrel), plunging 305.97%. This is the first time that the history of international oil prices has recorded a negative value, which means For the first time in the history of oil trade, the seller must pay the buyer the cost of buying crude oil futures. On April 22, Bank of China confirmed that the price of -266.12 yuan / barrel was valid.

On April 22, at more than 2 am, the news that the 262,000 principals in the account were wiped out by the bank was sent to Zhang Yongning ’s mobile phone, which included borrowing a friend ’s 150,000 deposit, because the previous loss was too much, he I thought about adding more while the price was relatively low at that time, “This may later be able to make money from the loss, just from a friendBorrowed 150,000 yuan, plus a total of 400,000 yuan in compensation. “

According to Caixin, Bank of China Crude Oil Bao involves more than 60,000 investors, including both institutional clients and individual clients. Less than 100 clients have invested more than 10 million yuan. The BOC customer’s margin loss was about 4.2 billion yuan, and the loss of position crossing was about 5.8 billion yuan.

In the face of investors ’bankruptcy overnight, what responsibility should BOC bear?

Yang Zhao ’s omnidirectional connection Insight analysis shows that BOC crude oil is squeezing through warehouses. This is an extreme market situation, and the staff ’s risk prediction is insufficient. I have not fully understood the negative oil prices that have never happened before.

In his view, the Bank of China crude oil treasure incident, a huge loss is in the period of position crossing, but the responsibility of the Bank of China at an earlier time, there are three main points:

First, crude oil products may be illegal. Banks do not have the qualifications to engage in futures, but they sell futures products beyond the permitted scope. The lesson of Crude Oil Bao Chuancang shows that the laymen should pay for each other.

Second, investors are not strictly controlled in sales. Many investors simply cannot afford to lose more than 30% of the principal, but the bank sells them products that may lose 100% of the principal.

The third is that after the United States notified the negative oil price in advance, it did not promptly remind investors to stop losses in time.

The collapse of crude oil to a negative value is due to market factors, and the suspected failure of the Bank of China is mainly reflected in insufficient control of risks. In 2017, China launched the “Procedures for the Appropriate Management of Securities and Futures Investors”. For operating agencies that provide related investment products, they must first understand the risk level of their products, second, understand the risk tolerance of investors, and finally The right products are sold to the right investors.

However, BOC’s positioning of its product’s risk level is inaccurate, and the risk rating of Crude Oil is only R3. Zhang Man told Connect Insight that at first he believed that the risk was within the controllable range. The crude oil treasure risk level displayed on the mobile phone was R3, but the actual risk level was R5. Will buy. “

The crude oil treasure incident is like prying off the tip of the iceberg of financial products. The public is worried about why the BOC crude oil treasure will be thunderous? In addition to crude oil treasure, when will the time bomb in financial products explode next time?

3 Will the tragedy repeat itself?

According to Insight, China Industrial and Commercial Bank, China Construction Bank, and Bank of Communications all have products similar to crude oil treasure. Many people have questions, why is it only the Bank of China crude oil accident?

According to BOC ’s definition, “crude oil treasure” refers to trading products issued by the Bank of China that are linked to domestic and foreign crude oil futures contracts for individual customers. The principle is that investors can buy and sell virtual crude oil on the Internet according to bank quotes, and they can earn crude oil spreads.

But a concept that needs to be added is that before the trading day comes, investors need to move positions, sell all futures commodity contracts that are close to the delivery date, close the position, and then establish a new off-delivery day Farther futures contracts.

General institutions will set the shifting date around seven to fifteen days before the delivery, so it is easy to find the next home in the market, but BOC Crude Oil has set the shifting date on the day before the closing day, That is, at 22:00 on the evening of April 20th, trading was stopped and the transfer was started. When the market was stable, there was no problem in doing so, but in the case of large fluctuations in the crude oil market, other banking institutions moved positions early, and BOC became To the last one, no one took the order.

The lawyer of Taihetai (Shanghai) Law Office Han Zehua also pointed out that the Bank of China has set an inappropriate date for shifting positions in the crude oil treasure product trading rules, which caused the Bank of China to encounter major problems when closing crude oil treasure products. The liquidity problem has caused huge losses.

This is a product design issue. Does this design loophole still exist in other financial products? Why is such an extremely high-risk investment product so easily sold to ordinary people?

This should be traced back to the concept of account crude oil business. Account crude oil is a product launched by domestic banks for individual customers. It only counts shares, does not extract physical crude oil, buys and sells crude oil shares in RMB or US dollars, and invests through banks without leverage. In the international crude oil market, prices are calibrated against WTI crude oil on the New York Stock Exchange and Brent crude oil futures on the Intercontinental Exchange.

Since the first launch of ICBC in 2013, many large banks have followed up, with ICBC and BOC having the largest business volume. The design of the “paper crude oil” products by the major banks are similar, but the key difference between the other banks’ business and the Bank of China is the difference in the transaction termination date and settlement date, so as to avoid this tragedy.

However, escaping does not mean that such products are not at risk.

In the bulk futures market, higher security is generally setThe entry threshold for securities to exclude small and medium investors who do not have the trading knowledge and risk tolerance of such products. The “paper crude” products launched by the major banks have low entry thresholds. The maximum risk warning for loss is “no capital preservation”, but they do not suggest losses beyond the principal, so they attract a large number of themselves. An investor eligible for futures trading.

Online Insight learned that before the crude oil storm, many banks were promoting their crude oil-related products. The crude oil-related products of a large bank even appeared in elevator advertisements.

The reason why banks are willing to launch such products is partly because investors have higher transaction costs. Banks do not support leveraged transactions when designing such products, which means that investors generally have to pay a 100% deposit, but the ratio required by the Chicago Stock Exchange is only 13.4%. The overpaid margin became the bank’s deposit surplus. This is a good deal for the bank.

However, this “crude oil treasure” incident can also give a glimpse of the bank’s threshold setting for financial products and the lack of supervision. Strict management is the key to avoiding such problems.

At present, major banks have conducted self-examinations under regulatory requirements, and many banks have suspended the recommendation of related products or suspended the opening of new crude oil trading.

The risk announcement issued by CCB to investors, Tuyuan China Construction Bank official website

In recent years, financial product investors have stepped on not less thunder. From P2P thunder to the BOC crude oil treasure incident, it will be difficult for the people trapped in it to recover.

In the crude oil treasure incident and the recent leakage of user information from China CITIC Bank, the bank ’s own regulatory issues exposed have attracted the attention of the CBRC.

On May 9, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission announced that eight banks, including the six state-owned banks, were fined a total of 17.7 million yuan for violations of laws and regulations by regulating the data quality of the EAST system and reporting.

Fine statistics of major banks

Among them, Bank of China was fined a total of 2.7 million due to problems such as underreporting of wealth management products and underreporting of capital transaction information.yuan.

Yang Zhaoquan mentioned that this crude oil treasure incident is the most ideal way if the bank and investors can negotiate a settlement or reach a settlement under the leadership of the court. If the case is decided by the court, the court will make a judicial determination in the judgment on major issues such as the legality of financial products, whether crude oil is a futures product, or whether liquidation is a right or an obligation, which is of great significance to the improvement of the financial rule of law.