Goh Meng Seng: Leong Sze Hian says Lehman Minibonds were seen as Capital Guaranteed!

[Porfirio Rubirosa]

"You can't blame the Town Councils. If you look at the last seven years, every year the most sold product in terms of volume in Singapore was structured products. They were seen as capital guaranted...Clearly the problem here was that (the two PAP councils) were trying to lower their risk by investing because these were seen as low risks products..."

Leong Sze Hian in TNP 18/11 appearing to absolve the PAP TCs of any "blame" with regards investing in the Lehman Minibonds and his general comments on the same.

 

[imperialarms]

Re: Goh Meng Seng: Leong Sze Hian says Lehman Minibonds were seen as Capital Guarante

is Leong Sze hian really harvard educated with Harvard MBA. i find it hard to believe

 

[Goh Meng Seng]

Re: Goh Meng Seng: Leong Sze Hian says Lehman Minibonds were seen as Capital Guarante

"You can't blame the Town Councils. If you look at the last seven years, every year the most sold product in terms of volume in Singapore was structured products. They were seen as capital guaranted...Clearly the problem here was that (the two PAP councils) were trying to lower their risk by investing because these were seen as low risks products..."

Leong Sze Hian in TNP 18/11 appearing to absolve the PAP TCs of any "blame" with regards investing in the Lehman Minibonds and his general comments on the same.

Dear Por,

I will not jump into such conclusion yet. You know, this is 158th media (well I really lost count its position now.. ) they will write or quote of out context for whatever their story line needs. There might be more to Leong's comment after saying this....

Goh Meng Seng

 

[Porfirio Rubirosa]

Re: Goh Meng Seng: Leong Sze Hian says Lehman Minibonds were seen as Capital Guarante

It get's better. Leong Sze Hian went onto say:

"Clearly the problem here was that (the two PAP councils) were trying to lower their risk by investing because these were seen as low risks products...When more and more people think that a product is low risk, the bubble situation may arise where a low risk product might explode in your face and become a high risk product"

What the heck does Leong mean Mistake/blame or no mistake/blame

 

[Porfirio Rubirosa]

Re: Goh Meng Seng: Leong Sze Hian says Lehman Minibonds were seen as Capital Guarante

Bro,

Sorry I can't paste the full article now. May be able to do so tomorrow, as TNP have a 24hour wait period for their online version. You may have a point but Leong Sze Hian sure appears to paint a picture that the Lehman Minibonds appeared to be considered a low risk product by all and sundry and therefore absolves the PAP TCs of any blame. Not sure how this may affect the retail investors?

Cheers

Dear Por,

I will not jump into such conclusion yet. You know, this is 158th media (well I really lost count its position now.. ) they will write or quote of out context for whatever their story line needs. There might be more to Leong's comment after saying this....

Goh Meng Seng

 

[Goh Meng Seng]

Re: Goh Meng Seng: Leong Sze Hian says Lehman Minibonds were seen as Capital Guarante

Bro,

Sorry I can't paste the full article now. May be able to do so tomorrow, as TNP have a 24hour wait period for their online version. You may have a point but Leong Sze Hian sure appears to paint a picture that the Lehman Minibonds appeared to be considered a low risk product by all and sundry and therefore absolves the PAP TCs of any blame. Not sure how this may affect the retail investors?

Cheers

Dear Bro,

I am a frequent victim of such "quote out of context" tactic and that is why I am very mindful of it. Especially so when you are talking to TNP, you will have to be extra careful Its not the reporters' fault but rather, the editors.

Even for people like me who are mindful and yet could just say something for them to misquote, I think Leong is most probably regretting now that he is being misquoted, if any.

Remember the other time one Professor talking about this minibond issue, later on also complain about being quoted out of context!

The truth is, while people want to try to sound "balanced" and always try to say both sides of the stories, but the editors aren't going to give you the balance when they reported it. They want their storyline to appear stronger with some backing from other people's words! Thus, they will only take the one side of your story while discarding the other side of your story. Its really a disgusting tactic.

So brothers and sisters, when you want to speak to reporters, make sure you don't try to show "balanced" because they don't really care. They just want their side of the story to pass through.

Goh Meng Seng

 

[Porfirio Rubirosa]

Re: Goh Meng Seng: Leong Sze Hian says Lehman Minibonds were seen as Capital Guarante

Well to make it even more confusing Leong is quoted at the end of the TNP article saying this

"He (Leong) added that in the last seven years, questions have been raised in the media about structured products. Town Councils should disclose what investment products they are holding, he added, so that they can be alerted should there be problems with what they bought."

Dear Bro,

I am a frequent victim of such "quote out of context" tactic and that is why I am very mindful of it. Especially so when you are talking to TNP, you will have to be extra careful Its not the reporters' fault but rather, the editors.

Even for people like me who are mindful and yet could just say something for them to misquote, I think Leong is most probably regretting now that he is being misquoted, if any.

Remember the other time one Professor talking about this minibond issue, later on also complain about being quoted out of context!

The truth is, while people want to try to sound "balanced" and always try to say both sides of the stories, but the editors aren't going to give you the balance when they reported it. They want their storyline to appear stronger with some backing from other people's words! Thus, they will only take the one side of your story while discarding the other side of your story. Its really a disgusting tactic.

So brothers and sisters, when you want to speak to reporters, make sure you don't try to show "balanced" because they don't really care. They just want their side of the story to pass through.

Goh Meng Seng

 

[Goh Meng Seng]

Re: Goh Meng Seng: Leong Sze Hian says Lehman Minibonds were seen as Capital Guarante

Well to make it even more confusing Leong is quoted at the end of the TNP article saying this

"He (Leong) added that in the last seven years, questions have been raised in the media about structured products. Town Councils should disclose what investment products they are holding, he added, so that they can be alerted should there be problems with what they bought."

Dear Por,

Then it is pretty clear, the editor has tried very hard to edit away "undesirable" responses from Leong, that is why the whole article sound so incoherent.

Goh Meng Seng

 

[Porfirio Rubirosa]

Re: Goh Meng Seng: Leong Sze Hian says Lehman Minibonds were seen as Capital Guarante

'You can blame them only with hindsight'
Financial expert, MPs say pointing finger at town councils not appropriate
By Lediati Tan

November 19, 2008




ONE word kept popping up after it was revealed in Parliament yesterday that two town councils had also invested in Lehman Brothers-linked structured products: Hindsight.

With hindsight, said Mr Leong Sze Hian, president of the Society of Financial Service Professionals, the town councils should not have invested in the structured products.

But, he told The New Paper: 'You can't blame the town councils. If you look at the last seven years, every year the most sold product in terms of volume in Singapore was structured products. They were seen as capital guaranteed.'


'With hindsight,' said Madam Ho Geok Choo, West Coast GRC, 'whether the decision is correct or not, I think at that point, no one was any wiser to know that months later things were going to take a turn in this manner.'

They were reacting to news that two town councils - Holland-Bukit Panjang and Pasir Ris-Punggol - had sunk about $12 million into the structured products, including Lehman Minibonds and Merrill Lynch Jubilee Series 3.

The figures were revealed by the Senior Minister of State (National Development and Education) Grace Fu in response to a question from Nominated MP Eunice Olsen.

Six other PAP-run town councils also have exposure to Lehman Brothers through their fund managers' investment portfolio.

These investments came to about $4 million and accounted for less than 1 per cent of each town council's funds available for investments, reported Channel NewsAsia.

The New Paper asked several MPs about what they thought of town councils investing surplus funds into structured products.

All of the MPs we spoke to did not think that it was appropriate to point the finger at the town councils and blame them for investing in such products. No one was aware of the risk at the point of investment.

'It's not just town councils, but individuals and corporations who have been hurt by this economic crisis,' reasoned Madam Ho.

And it's not whether town councils should have invested in such products, but how much, Madam Ho said.

Holland-Bukit Panjang and Pasir Ris-Punggol invested respectively 6.7 per cent and 2.6 per cent of their total funds for investment in the structured products.

This is well within the cap of 35 per cent of the sinking fund that each town councils can use to invest in non-government stocks, funds or securities.

She also emphasised the need 'to be a smart investor and diversify by not putting everything in one basket'.

Mr Zaqy Mohamad, MP of Hong Kah GRC, agreed.

'For town councils, it's a bit difficult when it comes to the management of funds. There has to be balance of expectations in poor times and in good times.

'We just have to be prudent in how we manage funds. The question to put to town councils is about total returns.'

He emphasised the need to look at total returns to see whether the loss has been offset by other investments.

He also told The New Paper: 'We have to be realistic. It's easier to say things with hindsight, but it's not so straightforward.'

Nominated MP Mr Siew Kum Hong said: 'It's easy to second-guess town councils' decision, but I think a better question to ask is whether other institutional investors have bought into these products.

'I would hesitate to second-guess the town councils' decisions.'

But Mr Siew reasoned: 'Of 14 town councils, only two have invested in Lehman-linked structured products - that is not to say that the other town councils did not invest in structured products.

'Now that the issue has come out - and $12 million being pretty substantial - the onus is on town councils to come out and be completely transparent.'

When the news broke late last month that some town councils had purchased Lehman Brothers-linked products, Dr Teo Ho Pin, MP for Holland-Bukit Panjang, told Channel NewsAsia: 'There's definitely no fear that any of the PAP town councils' sinking funds will be wiped out.

'All the supporting PAP town councils' sinking funds are in safe hands.'

He is also the coordinating chairman of the 14PAP town councils.

Low-risk better?

Should town councils, then, have stuck to investing in low-risk products such as fixed deposits and bonds?

For instance, opposition town council Potong Pasir invested $3m out of its $6m worth of sinking funds on Government bonds like LTA bonds, while the other half is in fixed deposit.

Said Mr Leong: 'Clearly the problem here was that (the two PAP town councils) were trying to lower their risk by investing because these were seen as low risk products.'

Focus less on risk reduction, he said, and more on risk diversification.

'When more and more people think that a product is low risk, the bubble situation may arise where a low risk product might explode in your face and become a high risk product.'

He added that in the last seven years, questions have been raised in the media about structured products.

Town councils should disclose what investments products they are holding, he added, so that they can be alerted should there be problems with what they bought.

 

[kakowi]

Re: Goh Meng Seng: Leong Sze Hian says Lehman Minibonds were seen as Capital Guarante

Decisions are made on the basis of imperfect knowledge - that is what those people are saying - and therefore they should not be blamed.

The issue however is not about investing based on imperfect knowledge.

The issue is what lies behind that investment decision.

And that is where the opposition town councils came up tops.

Their investment in fixed deposits and government bonds show a careful regard of the citizens' money.

By means of this, they definitely do not not need to increase the residents conservancy fees to top up their losses.

 

[kakowi]

Re: Goh Meng Seng: Leong Sze Hian says Lehman Minibonds were seen as Capital Guarante

In the same vein, the GIC and Temasek can do what the opposition leaders are doing: investing cautiously, letting the money grow steadily, protecting the nation's wealth as a primary motivation - so that the citizens do not need to experience hardship due to their losses.

 

[Avantas]

Re: Goh Meng Seng: Leong Sze Hian says Lehman Minibonds were seen as Capital Guarante

since when did we have a say ?

 

[locky2ky]

Re: Goh Meng Seng: Leong Sze Hian says Lehman Minibonds were seen as Capital Guarante

is Leong Sze hian really harvard educated with Harvard MBA. i find it hard to believe

correct, if he really said those things then he is no different from those psle level ah peks.

 

[Porfirio Rubirosa]

Re: Goh Meng Seng: Leong Sze Hian says Lehman Minibonds were seen as Capital Guarante

Very confusing and somewhat contradictory

correct, if he really said those things then he is no different from those psle level ah peks.

 

[imperialarms]

Re: Goh Meng Seng: Leong Sze Hian says Lehman Minibonds were seen as Capital Guarante

correct, if he really said those things then he is no different from those psle level ah peks.

i really wonder if he has harvard MBA, coz he might just have attended some course at harvard, and then come back anyhow yell he is a HARVARD ALUM.

I suspect he is NOT. which year is he from, can someone tell me?

 

[Ramseth]

Re: Goh Meng Seng: Leong Sze Hian says Lehman Minibonds were seen as Capital Guarante

I think it's reasonable for many to think that Leong Sze Hian doesn't know as much about Lehman minibonds as Tan Kin Lian and Goh Meng Seng. For only Tan K.L. and Goh M.S. spoke on Hong Lim rallies. However, Leong S.H., whether Harvard or not, is the President of the Society of Financial Planners. He surely must have his professional qualification and knowledge. He should stand for election too.