Geez what a lousy situation for those caught up in this and very scary stuff. Its a ridiculous lending practise that an entire share portfolio is effectively automatically pledged regardless of the size/amount of the margin loan and surely ASIC, the ASX should have been aware of this and not allowed an ASX participant to operate in this highly questionable way. It does show that it always pays to read the fine print but thats easy to say in hindsight. Nobody would knowingly risk a large shareholding for the sake of a small largin loan or just access to a margin facility - so clearly there is something wrong for this situation to have arisen. I would agree that questions should be asked of ANZ as well about allowing and financing this sort of situation.
I wish anyone involved luck in getting a result it would be a horrible situation to have a large portfolio wiped out in this way.
