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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Home > ST Forum > Online Story
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<!-- headline one : start --><TR>Minibonds: 'Sadly, thousands of local investors trusted their relationship managers with their hard-earned savings.'
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I READ Mr Lawrence Loh's letter last Tuesday ('Questions unanswered') and Mr Lim Chin Siew's letter the same day, ('MAS should assume role of trustee') and strongly feel the Government should look at guaranteeing all Singapore bank deposits placed in Singapore. This is to calm depositors here.
Like Mr Loh, I believe ABN Amro Bank's issue of Minibond Series 1, 2 and 3 issued under a $10 billion secured note programme of Minibond Ltd was misleading. Minibond Series 2 was issued by Minibond Ltd, arranged by Lehman Brothers Singapore Pte Ltd with HSBC as its trustee with its credit linked to seven-high profiled companies - Amex, Bank of America, DBS Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, SingTel and Stanchart. There was no mention of Minibond Notes' pricing statement is guaranteed by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc or special swap agreement is made with Lehman Brothers Special Financing Inc under HSBC as its trustee notified to all investors on Sept 23.
Under the Minibond Series 2 Notes brochure, only the summarised information highlighted the good returns with some of the world's biggest AA-rated corporations. It was approved by the Supplementary Retirement Scheme and supposedly by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Sadly, tens of thousands of local investors trusted their relationship managers from local banks with their hard-earned savings. Many invested in so-called low risk financial products with a slightly better return, only to find out it is not capital protection, even though some of them may be cleverly packaged as 'capital guaranteed funds' but on conditions their guaranteeing bank does not face a credit event or files for bankruptcy.
I believe many American and European banks are buying back many of the structured financial products from their investors at par values without interest because their courts are more pro-investor and with class-action lawsuits, these banks are likely to face investors' massive claims. However, I doubt the banks in Singapore will do that.
I hope the Government can investigate possible misrepresentation.
David Goh <!-- end of for each --><!-- Current Ratings : start --><!-- Current Ratings : end --><!-- vbbintegration : start -->
</TR>
<!-- headline one : start --><TR>Minibonds: 'Sadly, thousands of local investors trusted their relationship managers with their hard-earned savings.'
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I READ Mr Lawrence Loh's letter last Tuesday ('Questions unanswered') and Mr Lim Chin Siew's letter the same day, ('MAS should assume role of trustee') and strongly feel the Government should look at guaranteeing all Singapore bank deposits placed in Singapore. This is to calm depositors here.
Like Mr Loh, I believe ABN Amro Bank's issue of Minibond Series 1, 2 and 3 issued under a $10 billion secured note programme of Minibond Ltd was misleading. Minibond Series 2 was issued by Minibond Ltd, arranged by Lehman Brothers Singapore Pte Ltd with HSBC as its trustee with its credit linked to seven-high profiled companies - Amex, Bank of America, DBS Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, SingTel and Stanchart. There was no mention of Minibond Notes' pricing statement is guaranteed by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc or special swap agreement is made with Lehman Brothers Special Financing Inc under HSBC as its trustee notified to all investors on Sept 23.
Under the Minibond Series 2 Notes brochure, only the summarised information highlighted the good returns with some of the world's biggest AA-rated corporations. It was approved by the Supplementary Retirement Scheme and supposedly by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Sadly, tens of thousands of local investors trusted their relationship managers from local banks with their hard-earned savings. Many invested in so-called low risk financial products with a slightly better return, only to find out it is not capital protection, even though some of them may be cleverly packaged as 'capital guaranteed funds' but on conditions their guaranteeing bank does not face a credit event or files for bankruptcy.
I believe many American and European banks are buying back many of the structured financial products from their investors at par values without interest because their courts are more pro-investor and with class-action lawsuits, these banks are likely to face investors' massive claims. However, I doubt the banks in Singapore will do that.
I hope the Government can investigate possible misrepresentation.
David Goh <!-- end of for each --><!-- Current Ratings : start --><!-- Current Ratings : end --><!-- vbbintegration : start -->
