Case Studies

Mediation helps resolve differences and rebuilds trust

Commodity Trading

Ms. Wong is a VIP customer of Securities Firm D.  She had an investment portfolio with Securities Firm D, including commodity trading and she relied on the personal service and advice of Mr. Ip, one of Securities Firm D’s staff.  She relied heavily on Mr. Ip to give her timely advice and to perform the actual trading for her. Ms. Wong did not conduct any internet trading.

One morning, Ms. Wong noticed that the commodity market was experiencing big price fluctuations and she tried to seek urgent advice from Mr. Ip as to whether she should sell or not.  She attempted to contact Mr. Ip over the phone many times but to no avail.  Some of her calls were received by Mr. Ip’s colleagues.  It was not until in the afternoon that she finally spoke to Mr. Ip. She placed a selling order at a lower price compared to the price in the morning due to the price fluctuations in the commodity market. She was unhappy about the transaction as she believed that she would not have incurred any loss if her calls had been properly transferred to Mr. Ip earlier.  Ms. Wong believed that timely responses from Securities Firm D were essential in commodity trading, especially when the market was undergoing big price fluctuations.

Ms. Wong complained to Securities Firm D for the delay in service and asked for compensation for loss. Securities Firm D denied responsibility for any loss, stating that Ms. Wong’s selling order was executed properly and no redress could be offered to her.  Ms. Wong made an application for mediation at the FDRC.

Mr. Ip, as one of the representatives of Securities Firm D, attended the mediation.  The mediator facilitated discussions between the two parties and increased their mutual understanding.  Mr. Ip explained why he was unable to answer Ms. Wong’s calls that morning and promised to do better in the future.  It was agreed that certain transactional commission could be waived for a period of time for Ms. Wong’s investment account and both parties were happy with the settlement of the case.

 

(The case studies are based on actual FDRC cases. Various information including names of claimants, financial institutions and their staff, actual claim and settlement amounts have been altered to protect confidentiality of parties.)

 

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