I am very sad to see the Governments in Singapore and Hong Kong shown indifference to the situation of the Lehman Brothers' Minibonds crisis. Especially Singapore, the Government are not interested in helping the people whom bought the minibonds. I am surprised even at this economic downturn, the Relation Managers from the Banks are pushing to sell structure products and are not interested to enhanced the wealth of the depositors but their own pockets. Once this structure products are sold, do you think the Bankers will help you to monitor it? Far from it, once sold; Bye Bye! Its' your baby, commissions are in the pockets. I pity the old folks who don't know what they bought and was sweet talk into buying without knowing they will lose the whole sum invested. All the old folks knows it pays 6%, better then the 1.5% given by the banks. I know the old folks are naive. Thats' why we often read in the newspaper that old folks are cheated of their jewelry and life saving by con-man. Aren't there rules that forbid Banks to sell to old folks. Where are the heroes and the protector of citizens? In Singapore, they should set up regulations that will force the Banks to give back the life-long saving to the old folks. The Government always says there are no such rules to ask the banks to return the saving, I gather, they are the Government, aren't they? The old folks do not have legal teams or lawyers to read through the contract for them. They didn't know the pit falls in investing. Investment is a very cruel world and in this case, the gentle old folks who nurture this generation have to suffer. Very soon, We wouldn't have homeless people but we will have an increase in street people. Oh well, by calling people "Homeless", the Goverment will need to provide a home for them but by calling them "Street People", there are many streets around the corner. Here are some news from this region:
Singapore
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This Video is showing "The Heartlander Songs".
I totally agreed with with the lawyer, sued the banks and start a class action suit. Get back 100% of the invested money plus compound interest. A mis-selling means a mis-selling. Why ask the investors to prove it? why not ask the Banks to show they have not done a mis-selling? Once miss-selling occurred, then the rest are mis-selling too. Don't ask what the investors to prove, ask the Banks what they can do. Since they sell it, they should be responsible over it. Be reponsible to the "Hearlanders".
Hong Kong
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Lehman Brothers' MiniBonds
Save The Folks, Save The World!
Translator
WSJ - Hong Kong Regulator to Probe Minibonds Practices
OCTOBER 14, 2008, 4:31 A.M. ET
HONG KONG -- Hong Kong's securities regulator will closely examine practices and processes at banks when handling public complaints alleging misconduct in selling Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. structured products to local depositors.
"We need to adopt a top-down systemic approach and scrutinize [the mechanism] for strengths and weaknesses," said Mark Steward, executive director of enforcement at Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission, in an interview Tuesday.
If the regulator finds evidence a bank that sold the Lehman products didn't have procedures in place that could prevent abuses, that could be enough to impose penalties, Mr. Steward said. It wouldn't be necessary, in other words, to process each complaint from potentially thousands of investors individually -- a process that could take years.
"If it's not expedient, it's not effective," he said. Penalties could include fines or suspending a bank's securities license.
Mr. Steward's comments came as a monthlong political controversy over so-called Lehman "minibonds" continues to gather steam. Hong Kong lawmakers spent eight hours on Monday grilling the city's top officials and regulators over how the products were sold.
Legislators have said the minibonds, risky investments issued by the failed U.S. investment bank that were tied to complex debt products and offered bond-like yields, were pushed on unsophisticated investors as safe investments by aggressive banks. Over 1,000 citizens surrounded bank headquarters last week in protest over their alleged losses. Some banks that sold the minibonds say they were are working with investors and regulators to seek solutions. The Hong Kong Association of Banks said it has formed a task force to deal with the incident.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, which regulates the banks where most of these products were sold, has so far collected 9,281 complaints from the public. The authority says it has been processing the complaints, and is preparing to hand over its first batch of cases to the SFC for further investigation.
"We are looking forward to receiving referrals if there are any," Mr. Steward said.
Write to Jonathan Cheng at jonathan.cheng@wsj.com and Peter Stein at peter.stein@wsj.com
HONG KONG -- Hong Kong's securities regulator will closely examine practices and processes at banks when handling public complaints alleging misconduct in selling Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. structured products to local depositors.
"We need to adopt a top-down systemic approach and scrutinize [the mechanism] for strengths and weaknesses," said Mark Steward, executive director of enforcement at Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission, in an interview Tuesday.
If the regulator finds evidence a bank that sold the Lehman products didn't have procedures in place that could prevent abuses, that could be enough to impose penalties, Mr. Steward said. It wouldn't be necessary, in other words, to process each complaint from potentially thousands of investors individually -- a process that could take years.
"If it's not expedient, it's not effective," he said. Penalties could include fines or suspending a bank's securities license.
Mr. Steward's comments came as a monthlong political controversy over so-called Lehman "minibonds" continues to gather steam. Hong Kong lawmakers spent eight hours on Monday grilling the city's top officials and regulators over how the products were sold.
Legislators have said the minibonds, risky investments issued by the failed U.S. investment bank that were tied to complex debt products and offered bond-like yields, were pushed on unsophisticated investors as safe investments by aggressive banks. Over 1,000 citizens surrounded bank headquarters last week in protest over their alleged losses. Some banks that sold the minibonds say they were are working with investors and regulators to seek solutions. The Hong Kong Association of Banks said it has formed a task force to deal with the incident.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, which regulates the banks where most of these products were sold, has so far collected 9,281 complaints from the public. The authority says it has been processing the complaints, and is preparing to hand over its first batch of cases to the SFC for further investigation.
"We are looking forward to receiving referrals if there are any," Mr. Steward said.
Write to Jonathan Cheng at jonathan.cheng@wsj.com and Peter Stein at peter.stein@wsj.com
Angry HK investors protest
HONG KONG - ANGRY Hong Kong investors, some banging gongs and others waving banners, scuffled outside a bank on Friday as frustration mounted over losses tied to investments linked to failed US bank Lehman Brothers.
Several hundred investors, many of them elderly retirees, marched to eight banks which had sold Lehman structured products, including ABN Amro, Standard Chartered, Bank of China, Citic Ka Wah and DBS bank, demanding compensation for their losses.
Some investors tried to barge into a DBS bank branch on Hong Kong island, jostling with security staff who linked arms to form a human barricade.
'The banks are cheating us', shouted some investors, while others banged gongs and waved protest banners accusing the banks of misleading investors on the risks involved.
DBS said in a statement e-mailed to Reuters that a dedicated customer care centre had been set up to deal with concerns.
'DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Limited is deeply concerned about the anxiety our customers are experiencing on this matter', a spokesman said in the statement.
'Every customer is important to us and in cases where our standards are not met, DBS will not hesitate to make compensation', she said.
One female investor burst into tears and apparently fainted outside a Standard Chartered bank branch, television pictures showed.
Local media reports say tens of thousands of Hong Kong investors had bought Lehman-issued and referenced credit-linked notes, called mini-bonds, worth HK$15.6 billion (S$2.96 billion).
DBS said earlier this week that most of the notes were worthless, provoking the investor backlash.
Investors in Singapore and Indonesia have also hit the streets in protest, expressing outrage that the failed products they bought were actually complex derivatives
Several hundred investors, many of them elderly retirees, marched to eight banks which had sold Lehman structured products, including ABN Amro, Standard Chartered, Bank of China, Citic Ka Wah and DBS bank, demanding compensation for their losses.
Some investors tried to barge into a DBS bank branch on Hong Kong island, jostling with security staff who linked arms to form a human barricade.
'The banks are cheating us', shouted some investors, while others banged gongs and waved protest banners accusing the banks of misleading investors on the risks involved.
DBS said in a statement e-mailed to Reuters that a dedicated customer care centre had been set up to deal with concerns.
'DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Limited is deeply concerned about the anxiety our customers are experiencing on this matter', a spokesman said in the statement.
'Every customer is important to us and in cases where our standards are not met, DBS will not hesitate to make compensation', she said.
One female investor burst into tears and apparently fainted outside a Standard Chartered bank branch, television pictures showed.
Local media reports say tens of thousands of Hong Kong investors had bought Lehman-issued and referenced credit-linked notes, called mini-bonds, worth HK$15.6 billion (S$2.96 billion).
DBS said earlier this week that most of the notes were worthless, provoking the investor backlash.
Investors in Singapore and Indonesia have also hit the streets in protest, expressing outrage that the failed products they bought were actually complex derivatives
Investors of lehman-linked products upset despite assurance from MAS
SINGAPORE: Many investors of structured products linked to Lehman Brothers are still upset about what has been done with their investments. Some 500 of them gathered to voice their frustrations at Speakers' Corner at Hong Lim Park on Saturday – a day after the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said it was investigating complaints of mis-selling. Investors above 55 years old have been labelled as the "vulnerable group", and authorities have ordered banks to prioritise their cases first, amid the complaints of mis-selling. Despite the move, many feel inadequate steps are being taken to resolve the issue. One investor, Ho Fook Kwong, said: "(I am) very frustrated, very angry. I think they need to speed up this process because a lot of us are waiting for answers from authorities. We can't wait anymore." "They have stepped in too late. This thing has spread like wildfire. People have been complaining to the press, but they did not take any action," another investor, Ng Ah Mun, said. At the same time, reality has yet to hit a few investors. Some of them who spoke to Channel NewsAsia still hope to recover their entire capital. Most investors are clinging on to any glimmer of hope they can find – one of which comes from the organiser of their gathering, former NTUC Income CEO Tan Kin Lian. Mr Tan said he is in touch with a big bank from Hong Kong which is interested in taking over the management of the minibonds. He is also urging all affected investors to lodge complaints formally with their respective banks. The current trustee for the Lehman Minibond Programme, HSBC Institutional Trust Services, is looking at the option of a new swap counterparty and investors are expected find out more about their options by the end of next week. Meanwhile, investors have been consolidating their contact details to update one another on the latest news.
