Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission has revoked the licences of Richmond Asset Management Ltd and its responsible officer and sole owner, Mr Graham Frank Bibby, and banned him from re-entering the industry for a period of 10 years.

The SFC’s investigation found that Richmond Asset Management and Bibby are not fit and proper persons in that they procured investment funds from customers which were invested in assets in which Bibby and his wife held substantial undisclosed interests. Bibby and his firm obtained about US$5 million from 36 clients to invest in a company and a plot of land in Phuket of Thailand (Phuket Land) in which Bibby and his wife held substantial undisclosed interests.

They routed the clients’ funds they had procured into three unauthorised (optimiser) funds. Bibby and his firm were not only the investment advisors for the optimizer funds but also held management powers over the funds. The money went into two other funds - Asia Property Funds - in which Richmond Asset Management and Bibby were also advisors and investment managers.

In November 2007 the Asia Property Funds advanced a loan to the Fairway Holding Company, a Thai company in which Bibby and his wife held a combined stake of 75%. Fairway then used the loan – essentially monies invested in the Asia Property Funds from the optimiser funds – to fund the purchase of the Phuket Land. Bibby also paid part of the purchase price of the Phuket Land.   

The Optimizer Funds have been suspended since April 2010 and redemption requests from clients have been unsatisfied.

Bibby played a central role in managing the way in which the clients’ monies in their portfolios were invested and he initiated the structure of funds to channel the clients’ investments to a company and a property in which he and his wife have substantial interests.