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intermediaries concerned appear to have acted irresponsibly in selling the minibonds to retail investors. Quite possibly they are guilty of mis-sellling, in which case they should be the firms and the officers concerned should be prosecuted.
- The Government has failed to ensure that a proper regulatory arrangement was in place. As the crisis unfolded, it has failed to provide leadership to resolve it.
- The investors themselves should also bear some responsibility. Even an elderly and no-well-educated investor should wonder why a product is paying such high return comparing to the rate of the deposit interest.

What are the Lehman Brothers mini-bonds
The name "Minibonds" itself is a misleading word for investors. Whatever money you have invested in this "Minibonds" are not invested in bonds of the any reference banks or bonds issued by Lehman Brothers.
This is how it works. Lehman Brothers may or may not buy any bonds from any reference banks but it is just using these banks as "reference entities", some sort as a "bet" with Minibonds holders. There are basically 5 entities involved in the Minibonds arrangement.
1)First of all, its Lehman Brothers as the credit risk swap (I will explain what credit risk swap entails in this case later) partner.
２）Secondly, Lehman Brothers has created an empty shell company(SUV) Minibond Ltd which will issue the Minibonds to investors.
３）Third, the investors.
４）Forth, the money taken from investors will be invested in a basket of AA financial products from 150 companies which includes CDOs which is basically collateral debts obligations, some of them are related to SubPrime debts.
5) The reference banks which has nothing to do with investors' investment other than being a betting reference: i.e. if any one of them failed, it would be a credit event that make investors lose money to Lehman Brothers.
For simplicity to understand the whole arrangement, just take it that Lehman Brothers has bought some bonds from any reference entities (banks) and it needs somebody to insure its risk of exposure to these banks. It did not insure its risks from insurance companies like AIG which may charge her a high premium but instead, via this Minibonds arrangement mainly from retail Bank channel, bought insurance from investors like you.
Through the Credit Risk Swap, you as an investor has agreed to sell insurance to Lehman Brothers with regards to the reference entities. In order to become an insurance agents of Lehman Brothers, you will need to come up with money as collateral. This money is collected from you via the financial institutions that you bought the Minibonds and given to Minibond Ltd to invest in a basket of CDOs issued by 150 companies.
Whatever returns from these CDOswww.51lunwen.org issued by these 150 companies (variable returns) are given to Lehman Brothers. In return, Lehman Brothers will give Minibonds Ltd a FIXED premium (most probably higher than 5.1%) and Minibonds Ltd will give investors 5.1% returns for their investment.
Now, the variable returns from the Collateral Assets may be higher or lower than 5.1% but investors will only get back 5.1%. It means that Lehman Brothers will take the risk of variable returns from these Collateral Assets in return for your risk taking on the reference entities. This complete the Credit Risks Swap, swapping your risks of variable returns for a fixed returns, while you in return, insured Lehman Brothers for their