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Last week, somebody in HK posted a picture of a elderly man, shabbily dressed, kneeing and crying in front of the main branch of DBS HK, begging DBS HK to compensate him for his loss. This picture was circulated through e-mail all over HK. Imagine what is the reaction of the HK people???? Avoid anything to do with DBS HK, etc. So DBS HK has to come out do do something or say something. Hence the compensation statement, since DBS Hk is one of the many foreign financial institutions in HK. In Singapore, there are only 3 local banks.
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It is a pity to see retirees lose money in mini-bonds that are not clearly understood. As a layman, I always think that Bonds must be one of the safest asset investment and when I read about the Leyman Brithers Mini-Bond episode, I can tell you that even being educated, I really don’t understand the whole nature of how it works but only to understand the much higher interest payments that is higher than the CPF special account!
I still remembered the heartland bank called POSB and how it was acquired by a bigger player that when your balance saving account/s is below $500/- a $2/- surcharge per month basis for as long as it it below the $500/- minimum. There were much protest in Forums and gossips. Then what happened?…….It finally finally fizzled off and quietly the $2/ surcharge was levied if the minimum savings of $500/- is not met per month basis.
As a result many POSB Saving A/C holders with multiple Savings Book, quietly surrendered like what I did too!
I remembered on 2 occasion, I had to bank in a cheque of a substantial amount from my other investment portfolios at maturity, I was greetedly so pleasantly by a lady Bank Relationship Manager to invest in Unit Trust etc….. Fortunately the Lehman Brothers Mini-Bond was out of the radar screen at that point in time ………I appreciated the curteous call to invest and in actual fact turned her down flatly that I had very bad experience during the 1997 Asian Financial crisis and I told her politely “IN GOD I TRUST” meaning don’t every bring up the subject of Unit Trust!
Investor/s must always exercise Due Diligence and learn from history!
Regardless of what DBS does for HKG investors, I doubt DBS would offer full compensation to locals. Since when has the S’pore govt been that good to its citizens? Sg and Sg institutions exist for the benefit of foreigners, not locals.
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I don’t mean to be skeptical but it comes across to me that DBS is confidant that investors cannot prove they have been mis-led.
They have probably gone through with their heavy weight lawyers and know that very few if not none will get pass the their “legal firewall”.
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If you are DBS customer then good for you. Still has to go thru’ the flow chart. Complain to DBS for misrep, meet them and listen more than you talk. Especially when you know they do not have authority to sign a cheque for you on the spot. Go and listen them out. If not at all happy with their answers which I think you will be, then go to FIDReC to file your case. FIDReC, I think is like a small claim tribunal with authority for <$50,000 claim. In parallel, support the rest of us and go for a possible class action.
Just my thoughts.
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