<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Stay calm and follow process, investors urged
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Selina Lum & Francis Chan
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
</TD><TD vAlign=bottom>
Mr Ee sat in on the sessions to ensure both sides were given a fair chance.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THREE weeks after stepping in to oversee DBS Bank's handling of complaints from High Notes 5 investors, Mr Gerard Ee yesterday urged investors to stay calm.
Anxious bank customers are hoping to get some money back, since the collapse of American investment bank Lehman Brothers rendered the product worthless.
Mr Ee, who observed two dialogues between about 360 investors and senior DBS officials yesterday, said he knew emotions were running high.
But he appealed to customers to resist taking out their frustrations on bank employees who were just doing their job as the process of dealing with their complaints continues.
'I would love for it to go a bit faster but it's very high volume and some of these things cannot be rushed,' he told The Straits Times.
About 1,400 DBS customers invested over $103 million in High Notes 5 and this week they found out that the product is now worthless because it was linked to bankrupt Lehman Brothers.
DBS appointed Mr Ee as its independent external consultant to ensure that the process of handling customer complaints was fair and transparent.
He felt that no financial institution would come out of a process like this scoring 100 marks with its customers.
He does not sit in on interviews between bank representatives and customers, but he observes other parts of the process, such as how the bank contacts customers, and he goes through every case file after it is finished.
He attended yesterday's dialogues as an observer to make sure 'both sides give each other a fair chance'.
Mr Ee described the first session as 'highly charged' but commended investors for controlling themselves, adding that proceedings were conducted with a 'high degree of civility'.
He said he would convey the investors' sentiments to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
He was not surprised that most investors came away feeling unsatisfied with the DBS assurance that it would look at each investor on a case-by-case basis.
But this was the normal process, he said.
Investors have to fill in a four-page questionnaire, saying, for example, how they found out about the product and if they had signed a statement saying they were aware of the risks.
Mr Ee urged customers to be calm and forthcoming in filling up the form.
They should avoid giving 'templated' answers or fear that their answers could be used against them, he added, saying he had heard such talk.
Customers would have to answer the same questions even if they went to the Finance Industry Dispute Resolutions Centre (Fidrec) or took their complaint to court, he said.
'As individuals, all of us have great sympathy...but there are no short cuts in the fact-finding process,' he said.
Meanwhile, DBS said it has started compensating investors and removing relationship managers who made inappropriate sales.
Consumer banking head Rajan Raju said yesterday: 'We have started the settlement process with some customers.'
DBS has received 'about 450 to 500 complaints' of mis-selling, said Mr Raju, who was speaking on the sidelines of the dialogue session.
The bank also pledged to review all cases. 'We are going to review every single case by the end of this year, even those who have not complained to us. We will still look at their case,' said the consumer banking head.
'And if we go through and find that the selling process has been inappropriate for that customer, then obviously DBS will do the right thing.'
A DBS spokesman said that some relationship managers found to have conducted 'inappropriate sales' of High Notes 5 had been disciplined. She added that 'a few have been suspended for inappropriate sales' and 'their names have been referred to MAS for further action'.
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Selina Lum & Francis Chan
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Mr Ee sat in on the sessions to ensure both sides were given a fair chance.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THREE weeks after stepping in to oversee DBS Bank's handling of complaints from High Notes 5 investors, Mr Gerard Ee yesterday urged investors to stay calm.
Anxious bank customers are hoping to get some money back, since the collapse of American investment bank Lehman Brothers rendered the product worthless.
Mr Ee, who observed two dialogues between about 360 investors and senior DBS officials yesterday, said he knew emotions were running high.
But he appealed to customers to resist taking out their frustrations on bank employees who were just doing their job as the process of dealing with their complaints continues.
'I would love for it to go a bit faster but it's very high volume and some of these things cannot be rushed,' he told The Straits Times.
About 1,400 DBS customers invested over $103 million in High Notes 5 and this week they found out that the product is now worthless because it was linked to bankrupt Lehman Brothers.
DBS appointed Mr Ee as its independent external consultant to ensure that the process of handling customer complaints was fair and transparent.
He felt that no financial institution would come out of a process like this scoring 100 marks with its customers.
He does not sit in on interviews between bank representatives and customers, but he observes other parts of the process, such as how the bank contacts customers, and he goes through every case file after it is finished.
He attended yesterday's dialogues as an observer to make sure 'both sides give each other a fair chance'.
Mr Ee described the first session as 'highly charged' but commended investors for controlling themselves, adding that proceedings were conducted with a 'high degree of civility'.
He said he would convey the investors' sentiments to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
He was not surprised that most investors came away feeling unsatisfied with the DBS assurance that it would look at each investor on a case-by-case basis.
But this was the normal process, he said.
Investors have to fill in a four-page questionnaire, saying, for example, how they found out about the product and if they had signed a statement saying they were aware of the risks.
Mr Ee urged customers to be calm and forthcoming in filling up the form.
They should avoid giving 'templated' answers or fear that their answers could be used against them, he added, saying he had heard such talk.
Customers would have to answer the same questions even if they went to the Finance Industry Dispute Resolutions Centre (Fidrec) or took their complaint to court, he said.
'As individuals, all of us have great sympathy...but there are no short cuts in the fact-finding process,' he said.
Meanwhile, DBS said it has started compensating investors and removing relationship managers who made inappropriate sales.
Consumer banking head Rajan Raju said yesterday: 'We have started the settlement process with some customers.'
DBS has received 'about 450 to 500 complaints' of mis-selling, said Mr Raju, who was speaking on the sidelines of the dialogue session.
The bank also pledged to review all cases. 'We are going to review every single case by the end of this year, even those who have not complained to us. We will still look at their case,' said the consumer banking head.
'And if we go through and find that the selling process has been inappropriate for that customer, then obviously DBS will do the right thing.'
A DBS spokesman said that some relationship managers found to have conducted 'inappropriate sales' of High Notes 5 had been disciplined. She added that 'a few have been suspended for inappropriate sales' and 'their names have been referred to MAS for further action'.
