Well - FH has been saying that they want to achieve a settlement...

Well - FH has been saying that they want to achieve a settlement offer that they can put before OP creditors which will achieve a global solution. They previously said that the value of the security which was taken by ANZ alone was between $205m and $270m, and ML has supposedly put some money toward the settlement, and there is still the damages component which FH have said they have a strong focus on.

I think people are assuming that the article in yesterday's Fin is simply ill informed or only referring to a component of a settlement offer. if it were the complete offer, it's likely that FH wouldn't bother putting it to creditors; creditors would know that they would likely achieve a similar outcome litigating in respect of preferential security only and would then still retain the right to litigate against the banks either through a class action or individually.

Seems to me that it's either gross failure of the mediation process with banks deceiving creditors by reentering the process without serious intent to offer a reasonable settlement, or it's extremely poor and irresponsible reporting by the Fin Review.

Either is completely unacceptable and can only cause further distress to OP clients who have been left in the dark for almost a year now.

Let's hope for everyone's sake that the end of this week sees a fair and reasonable offer that clears up at least the bulk of the mess and allows ex-clients to regain some semblance of their former positions.