<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=591 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=newstitle width=328>Singapore News</TD><TD class=newstitle vAlign=bottom align=right width=263 colSpan=3><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=259 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=right width=143>
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By Valarie Tan/Ryan Huang, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 24 October 2008 2146 hrs
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Distraught investors express their anguish at losses from structured notes issued by Lehman Brothers (file picture).</TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD><TD class=update> </TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD><TD><TABLE style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #cccccc" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=240 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width="100%"><TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff"><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=topic vAlign=top align=left>Related News </TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left bgColor=#cccccc>
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SINGAPORE: Singapore's financial disputes centre, FIDReC, has received 530 complaints so far about failed investment products linked to the US financial crisis.
FIDReC said enquiries and complaints started to come in from mid-September 2008, majority of them on the Lehman Brothers Minibond programme.
So far, 422 cases were on the Minibond, 80 were on DBS High Notes and 28 were on Merrill Lynch Jubilee Series 3 Linkearner Notes.
Meanwhile, HSBC Institutional Trust Services (Singapore) said one more party has expressed interest in replacing Lehman Brothers as swap counterparty under the Minibond programme, bringing interested parties to three.
HSBC said it will take some time for all parties involved to agree on the exact details. There is also a court process, which HSBC said "would take some weeks from the time of the agreement", before everything gets finalised.
Three financial institutions in Singapore have started looking at compensating investors. But that has not provided much reassurance to investors like Ismail Deen.
The 59-year-old said it took 20 minutes for him to sign up for the doomed Lehman Brothers Minibonds a year ago. But to get back his S$50,000 investment, he recently sat through a two-hour interview with MayBank Singapore.
He said: "They were asking, what happened that day? Who attended to you? How did you know this officer? Was he recommended or you just walked in?"
MayBank said it takes up to two weeks to set up a meeting and another four weeks to know the outcome. Even then, there is no guarantee that investors will recover their money.
That is especially so for investors like Rachel (not her real name) who fall outside the so-called vulnerable group - termed as the elderly and less educated.
Rachel, a recently-recovered breast cancer survivor in her late-30s, had parked S$40,000 in Minibonds through Hong Leong Finance and MayBank.
She had bought the Minibonds at the height of her disease, with plans to pass the investment returns to her mother.
In an attempt to recover her money, she wrote to the banks and the financial disputes centre before sitting through four interviews, including one on the phone.
Rachel said the face-to-face interviews were conducted by two bank staff, who said they were not from the sales departments.
During the interview, she was asked questions taken from a list. These included whether and how managers had explained the products; whether information was given out on how the products work and whether the risks were highlighted.
Rachel said: "I find it pointless to repeat so many times, because everything (that was being asked) is in my letter. If everybody is telling the same story, what's the point of getting everybody to go through the motion, stress us out and go through so many rounds of interviews..."
Investors unable to resolve their case with the financial institutions can turn to FIDReC. The financial disputes centre said the time taken to resolve a case depends on how complex it is.
Figures from 2007 showed that 80 per cent of cases were resolved within half a year, with more than half of these resolved within three months.
- CNA/ir
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By Valarie Tan/Ryan Huang, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 24 October 2008 2146 hrs
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=260 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=right width=20> </TD><TD align=right width=240>
Distraught investors express their anguish at losses from structured notes issued by Lehman Brothers (file picture).</TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD><TD class=update> </TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD><TD><TABLE style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #cccccc" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=240 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width="100%"><TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff"><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=topic vAlign=top align=left>Related News </TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left bgColor=#cccccc>
SINGAPORE: Singapore's financial disputes centre, FIDReC, has received 530 complaints so far about failed investment products linked to the US financial crisis.
FIDReC said enquiries and complaints started to come in from mid-September 2008, majority of them on the Lehman Brothers Minibond programme.
So far, 422 cases were on the Minibond, 80 were on DBS High Notes and 28 were on Merrill Lynch Jubilee Series 3 Linkearner Notes.
Meanwhile, HSBC Institutional Trust Services (Singapore) said one more party has expressed interest in replacing Lehman Brothers as swap counterparty under the Minibond programme, bringing interested parties to three.
HSBC said it will take some time for all parties involved to agree on the exact details. There is also a court process, which HSBC said "would take some weeks from the time of the agreement", before everything gets finalised.
Three financial institutions in Singapore have started looking at compensating investors. But that has not provided much reassurance to investors like Ismail Deen.
The 59-year-old said it took 20 minutes for him to sign up for the doomed Lehman Brothers Minibonds a year ago. But to get back his S$50,000 investment, he recently sat through a two-hour interview with MayBank Singapore.
He said: "They were asking, what happened that day? Who attended to you? How did you know this officer? Was he recommended or you just walked in?"
MayBank said it takes up to two weeks to set up a meeting and another four weeks to know the outcome. Even then, there is no guarantee that investors will recover their money.
That is especially so for investors like Rachel (not her real name) who fall outside the so-called vulnerable group - termed as the elderly and less educated.
Rachel, a recently-recovered breast cancer survivor in her late-30s, had parked S$40,000 in Minibonds through Hong Leong Finance and MayBank.
She had bought the Minibonds at the height of her disease, with plans to pass the investment returns to her mother.
In an attempt to recover her money, she wrote to the banks and the financial disputes centre before sitting through four interviews, including one on the phone.
Rachel said the face-to-face interviews were conducted by two bank staff, who said they were not from the sales departments.
During the interview, she was asked questions taken from a list. These included whether and how managers had explained the products; whether information was given out on how the products work and whether the risks were highlighted.
Rachel said: "I find it pointless to repeat so many times, because everything (that was being asked) is in my letter. If everybody is telling the same story, what's the point of getting everybody to go through the motion, stress us out and go through so many rounds of interviews..."
Investors unable to resolve their case with the financial institutions can turn to FIDReC. The financial disputes centre said the time taken to resolve a case depends on how complex it is.
Figures from 2007 showed that 80 per cent of cases were resolved within half a year, with more than half of these resolved within three months.
- CNA/ir
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