There's a red-faced Goldman Sachs employee in Asia right now, after a very costly typo in a formula for a structured warrant tied to the Japanese Nikkei.

According to the Economist (via FT Alphaville), on February 11th this year, the bank issued four warrants tied to the index "which were described in three separate filings amounting to several hundred pages."

Inside those several hundred pages, was a formula that determined the settlement price of the warrant.

The formula read: (Closing Level – Strike Level) x Index Currency Amount x Exchange Rate

It was supposed read: (Closing Level – Strike Level) x Index Currency Amount / Exchange Rate

Goldman lawyers alerted the exchange to the mistake on March 31 and according to the Economist, the notes have been frozen ever since.

Now, Goldman has offered "to buy back the warrants from holders for a 10% premium on their purchase price, plus a fixed payment to cover broker fees." They say they're covered by their prospectus, which actually has a specific clause about dealing with such errors.

But the warrant holders, of which there are 124, obviously want Goldman to honor the formula which was sent out -- a formula that would entitle holders to a pool worth about $45 million (HK$350m), instead of the $1.3 million Goldman is offering.