The Paper reporter Ge Jiatian Zhongfang
Recently, a news about a number of public fund managers being investigated for their participation in OTC options has gone viral on the Internet, and the rumors even pointed to the change of fund managers of a number of leading institutional products.
In this regard, the surging news reporter asked a number of public funds that have recently announced changes in fund managers. The relevant companies all denied that the change or resignation of fund managers was due to violations.
Several companies deny fund manager changes due to violations
"Our company's recent product change fund manager, he did not resign, but also served as the fund manager of other products. We are also speechless when the screenshots are collected together and put on the Internet." A person from the marketing department of a head fund company in East China said to reporter said.
Another person from a head fund company in South China also denied that the recent change in fund manager of the company's products was because the resigned fund manager violated regulations.
"Generally, when a fund manager proposes to resign until the official announcement is made, there will be a lead time. This is not only a certain time for the fund company to choose a product successor, but also relevant financial and other processes. Our fund manager has resigned, but from his proposal. After the official announcement, there was a period of time when people suddenly said that people were taken away. I asked our employees in other cities, and I didn’t hear about people being taken away.” The aforementioned person from South China Fund Company said.
Another person from a top fund company in central China also said that it took him a long time to find his company’s announcement in the screenshots, “Now there are 9,800 funds, and it’s normal to change every day. Our fund manager manages a lot of them. Products, leaving one or two is a relatively normal change.”
"There is no wind and no waves. If it is true, it is a major reputational risk in the industry, and the regulator should come out and talk about it." Some public fund people admitted that the truth is true and false, and now it is like seeing flowers in a fog, but whether it really involves such a quantity Huge fund managers may still need to wait for the official disclosure of information from authoritative departments, and do not believe rumors or spread rumors.
What is the OTC options business?
Although the facts are still inconclusive, the over-the-counter options business has been put under the spotlight, and it was once a hot search on Weibo.
Can fund managers participate in OTC options?
Are OTC options the "sick bed" of the new "rat warehouse"?
It is understood that OTC options refer to non-standardized options contracts carried out in non-centralized trading venues. They are financial derivatives that are traded according to the needs of both parties based on negotiation between the two parties over the counter.
The OTC options business of securities companies has been piloted since 2012 and is an important part of the OTC derivatives business.
However, due to the restrictions of trading rules, domestic OTC options can only participate in institutional and corporate customers at present, and individuals cannot conduct OTC options transactions in securities companies.
In addition, according to insiders in the securities industry, public fund products cannot yet participate in the OTC option business, so the extended illegal tactics may involve public fund managers participating in illegal OTC option transactions in their own name.
"A few of our friends once pooled money together and bought over-the-counter options on a stock. Later, they didn't make any money when they expired, so they lost the premium." An employee of a futures company told The Paper that if Without inside information, the chances of making money through the OTC options business are not high.
possible operating modes
"Everyone is guessing now that it may be that the fund managers are attracted to a small-cap growth stock. Then they open a call option on this small-cap growth stock and madly pull the underlying stock, and the option of the small-cap growth stock will increase by 10 times or 20 times. Since individual stock options can be leveraged, they can earn 100 times or more. It is to use self-managed funds to pull the underlying stock, and then use your own personal linked account to open the underlying stock option, a bit like a few years ago. Convertible bonds for several years. Pull the stock price of the underlying stock, beat the price of derivatives, and earn the price of assets after the derivatives are amplified." A senior securities market person explained the simple logic to the surging news reporter.
Zhao Xin (pseudonym), who used to be the head of asset management and investment in a leading domestic brokerage and is currently the general manager of a private equity fund in Shanghai, told The Paper: "Public fund managers use over-the-counter options to conduct rat positions, which can be Two forms of operation."
"On the one hand, it is the individual or related person who buys call options on individual stocks in relevant institutions. Fund managers can use the funds under management to push up the stock price of the relevant underlying. At the same time, institutions that sell options, for risk hedging, will also Buy relevant stocks. Under the action of the two parties, the price of relevant stocks will rise in a spiral." Zhao Xin said.
Zhao Xin said that through the above operations, the fund manager can earn the income of the option. Due to the high leverage, the profit is very considerable.
On the other hand, Zhao Xin pointed out that there may be insider trading of listed companies and their executives, and fund managers.
"For example, listed companies make arrangements with fund managers in advance before the relevant information is disclosed. Due to the structure of OTC options products, the design can be very complex, so the products can accommodate the interests of listed companies, relevant executives, fund managers and other parties. There is no problem." Zhao Xin pointed out.
Zhao Xin further pointed out that taking foreign markets as an example, some news may only boost the stock price by 5%, but through complex over-the-counter options, the leverage may be as high as 200% or even higher.
"However, under the Matthew effect, the concentration of options business is relatively high, so the supervision will also pay special attention to relevant anomalies." Zhao Xin said.
As far as domestic rumors are concerned, Zhao Xin said that at present, more private equity and banks are buying OTC options.
Private equity is for related investment purposes, while banks are for wealth management products.
"Public offering currently encourages fund managers to follow investment in products under management, because it can bind the interests of fund managers and products under management. As for whether to buy options for risk hedging purposes, relevant aspects still need to look at the current supervision and fund companies. How to regulate management." Zhao Xin further pointed out.
Regarding individual stock options, an executive of a futures company in Shanghai told The Paper: "At present, there are no on-market options for individual stocks in China. Therefore, the stock options involved in the rumors should be customized OTC options products."
“In general, what the rumors involve is a new type of rat market. Fund managers can buy stock call options and earn the return of the call option by raising the stock price. If it is an out-of-the-money option, the cost is actually very high. Low." The executive of the futures company pointed out.
Zhao Xin also said that carrying out rat positions in related stocks requires cooperation from many aspects, and the time requirements are relatively high.
At present, it is difficult to operate through the supervision of big data and other means.
Rat positions through over-the-counter options are more concealed in terms of time point and number of stocks.