On April 20th, 2020, US time, the official settlement price of CME monthly WTI crude oil futures contract was -37.63 USD/barrel, which triggered the crude oil treasure incident of China Bank. On the second day after the incident, BOC crude oil treasure investment customers received the notice of covering positions from BOC to compensate the margin difference. Investors not only lost the principal, but also invested nearly twice the principal. At that time, the crowd was furious, and investors quickly built a group to defend their rights. People who eat melons and professionals disagree with BOC's approach.
As early as 20 18, BOC began to provide trading services for crude oil investment products. According to Bank of China's financial manager, Bank of China only serves as a market maker to provide quotations and conduct risk management. To put it bluntly, it is to earn management fees for investment customers. This product has a 20% liquidation line, that is, when the customer's principal loss reaches 80%, it will close the position and leave. According to this operation, although the customer may lose money, it will not lose all the principal, but will also bear the loss of 1 ~ 2 times the principal. This makes it difficult for investment customers to understand, and it is also difficult to bear huge debts overnight.
There are two main reasons for this situation: First, on April 15, local time in the United States, the Chicago Stock Exchange has issued a test announcement. If there is zero or negative price, all the trading and clearing systems of CME will continue to operate normally, and all routine transactions and positions can be executed in actuarial science. However, the change of rules did not attract the attention of investors and BOC. The second is the operation of the Bank of China. Bank of China did nothing, whether it moved the warehouse before the expiration (CCB and ICBC had already done it) or before and after the warehouse-piercing incident. Because it is after 2 pm local time, it is from 2: 28 am to 2: 30 am Beijing time (2 1). This time is the rest time of BOC, and the trading channels of BOC investors are closed. In short, there is no action. Some netizens commented that when customers' funds were swallowed up by others, they were oblivious and indifferent.
After the incident, with the development of public opinion, the regulatory authorities have intervened and interviewed the leaders of the Bank of China in a city. Finally, on May 5th, Bank of China announced that it would negotiate with customers on a voluntary and equal basis. If it can't be solved, it can be solved through litigation. From the feedback of relevant investors, there are two main ways to solve the problem. If the investment amount is less than10 million, 20% of the deposit will be returned without repayment of the deposit owed. For investors who invest10 million, 20% of the deposit will not be refunded. This result has not been seen in the official documents of the Bank of China. Even if this result makes many investors dissatisfied, the high probability event is that the customer will bear 20% and the Bank of China will bear 80%. If all is borne by the Bank of China, it is estimated that the boss will be very unwilling.
Now that the CBRC is involved, the handling of this incident may be more secure, but it will be a painful process for investors and BOC. This will be a painful lesson for investors and market makers.