Analyst Gets Cold Shoulder From OCBC

Source : The Business Times, October 24, 2007

Morgan Stanley's Matthew Wilson will no longer have access to top staff

OCBC Bank will not be inviting bank analyst Matthew Wilson of Morgan Stanley for future briefings. The bank is believed to be unhappy with his views and treatment of Singapore's third-largest lender.

Mr Wilson, who has been covering the three local banks for three-and-a-half years, has generally regarded OCBC as an expensive stock. He has never had a 'buy' call on it and has stuck to 'equal weight' or 'sell'.

The bank, it is believed, feels aggrieved about his attitude. BT understands that OCBC has advised Morgan Stanley that the analyst will no longer have access to their senior management or investor relations people.

In addition, OCBC will decline meetings with fund managers introduced by Morgan Stanley Research, a source told BT.

Mr Wilson declined to comment but in a research note on the banking sector dated Sept 19 on OCBC, he wrote that 'recent events also lead us to question the bank's attitude to corporate governance'.

Koh Ching Ching, OCBC spokeswoman, said the bank does not ban anyone but invitations to its events are at its discretion.

'To ensure we are fair to all who are interested, our quarterly-results presentation slides are released to the SGX and also posted on our website. Our half-yearly results briefings are also webcast live and can be viewed on our website,' said Ms Koh.

'We do not wish to make any comment with regard to Mr Matthew Wilson,' she added.

Mr Wilson currently has a 'sell' rating on OCBC and 'equal weight' for DBS and United Overseas Bank. 'In particular, we highlight zero mortgage growth for the last two years and a very high concentration of lending to Singapore constructors and developers,' he wrote about OCBC in September.

Listed companies banning analysts, while not unheard of, is pretty rare in corporate Singapore. The Singapore Exchange recommends that issuers observe an 'open door' policy in dealing with analysts, journalists, stockholders and others.

Ms Koh said the bank is aware of the listing rules on corporate disclosure and releases all material information through the stock exchange so that all investors, analysts, fund managers and journalists have the opportunity to access it at the same time. She added that the bank did not disclose any 'material, price-sensitive and non-public information' in its meetings with analysts or investors.

Still, some appeared surprised by the bank's tough stance on the analyst.

Said David Gerald, president of Securities Investors Association of Singapore: 'Unless listed companies have very good reasons and they should state the reasons for doing so, they should not exclude analysts because investors do rely on research from analysts.'