<TABLE id=msgUN cellSpacing=3 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD id=msgUNsubj vAlign=top>Subliminal message by the 154th that Sporns are to be blamed?
Coffeeshop Chit Chat - 154th:They r our model minibond investor
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</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate noWrap align=right width="30%">9:58 pm </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT noWrap align=right width="1%" height=20>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname noWrap width="68%">ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 5) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft width="1%" rowSpan=4> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>2065.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>'I walked in with my eyes open'
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>A man stands to lose $50,000, a woman $200,000. But neither will be lodging a complaint about the mis-selling of Lehman-linked products because...</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Mr W. Lai, who owns an IT education business, is one of the 10,000 people who had their fingers burnt by investing in a Lehman Brothers-linked structured product.
But he is not making a formal complaint to the financial institution which sold it to him.
Unlike the hundreds who have come forward to insist that they were mis-sold products like Lehman Minibonds and DBS High Notes5, he has 'never thought of joining the others in lodging a complaint'.
Mr Lai, 25, sank $50,000 into Minibonds.
The money, he said, represents 'no more than a couple of per cent' of his entire investment portfolio.
=> Would this punk be so yaya if this were to be his life savings?
More to the point, he accepts responsibility for any loss he suffers.
'In my case I don't think there was mis-selling,' he said.
'I read through everything in the prospectus and I didn't just rely on the bankers. However, no one could have thought that Lehman would collapse as it had a pretty good credit rating.'
He conceded that there were probably genuine cases in which products were mis-sold, especially to those who had a low-risk profile.
However, he said, investors 'have a responsibility to read everything and not just sign'.
For now, he is holding on to the hope that there will be a new swap counterparty to replace Lehman in the Minibond programme. If this goes through, it is likely that Minibond holders will get back more from their investments at maturity than if they had been forced to cash out now.
Like Mr Lai, a handful of investors that The Sunday Times managed to track down said they had walked into the deals with their eyes open.
A human resources manager in her late 50s is staring at losses of up to $200,000 but is also not lodging a complaint.
She bought $100,000 worth of Lehman Minibonds in July last year based on a recommendation from a relationship manager. She also bought $100,000 of DBS High Notes5, after a friend told her to buy them.
'I blame my friend, but then he also lost money,' she said.
She is not complaining about mis-selling because 'I walked in with my eyes open'.
'At DBS, the relationship manager did tell me that the only time I could lose my money was if there was a credit event, but he also said that all the banks listed were rated AA. But I didn't quite realise that I could lose all my money.
'This is partially my fault. I can read but I didn't read. I knew I might lose some money, but who can predict these things? When we have decided to invest this sum over here and another sum over there, we don't really read the documentation. The decision is made within two seconds.'
As to how she felt about losing her money, she said: 'I know it's painful but I didn't really lose any sleep over it. If you think too much about it, you will feel worse. So be it.
'If I were so upset, I would go and fight like everyone else, but it would take up so much of my time and energy.'
Another investor, Ms Joyce Lou, 40, has also decided that taking out a complaint is not worth the effort.
The financial adviser has $5,000 in Minibonds and $5,000 in Pinnacle Notes, another product which has plunged in value.
'I think everyone should be responsible for his own money. I admit, I should have found out more,' she said.
She added that her profession would also work against any claims of mis-selling.
According to the latest figures from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, one out of every four investors who bought a financial product linked to Lehman Brothers has lodged a formal complaint of mis-selling.
DBS Bank, for example, has received around 450 to 500 complaints of mis-selling. About 1,400 people here invested over $103million in its High Notes5.
But Mr David Gerald, president of the Securities Investors Association of Singapore, warns against jumping to the conclusion that the majority of investors are not bothered by the loss.
'There may be a number of reasons why they have not put up their hands yet. Some of them may think it's still early days and they are waiting to see what the financial institutions will do. There could also be some who feel that they invested with their eyes open or that the amount invested is not much.'
A chief executive of a financial institution said he knows of pockets of 'responsible investors who are facing up to the facts and who are not intending to do anything'.
He estimates that these account for some 10 to 20per cent of his clients.
However, he was not able to let The Sunday Times contact them, citing client confidentiality and 'not wanting to stir up something'.
Other industry sources said it was unlikely that such investors would openly confess to having made a bad investment decision, as it would be not only embarrassing but also harmful in the event that they changed their minds about lodging complaints.
In any case, those who have decided not to complain are determined to move on.
Financial adviser Ms Lou said: 'I'm not going to die because of this $10,000. I invest money that I don't need to use for the next two years at least, so there's no impact on the way I lead my life.'
Year-end vacations will go on as planned and Ms Lou is 'shopping around' for a trip to Australia.
IT entrepreneur Mr Lai is also not about to cancel his four jaunts to Hong Kong, Australia, Japan and Korea. As for the human resources manager who may end up $200,000 poorer, her advice after this fiasco is: 'Put your money in fixed deposits. It's safe.'
[email protected]
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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - 154th:They r our model minibond investor
</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>A man stands to lose $50,000, a woman $200,000. But neither will be lodging a complaint about the mis-selling of Lehman-linked products because...</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Mr W. Lai, who owns an IT education business, is one of the 10,000 people who had their fingers burnt by investing in a Lehman Brothers-linked structured product.
But he is not making a formal complaint to the financial institution which sold it to him.
Unlike the hundreds who have come forward to insist that they were mis-sold products like Lehman Minibonds and DBS High Notes5, he has 'never thought of joining the others in lodging a complaint'.
Mr Lai, 25, sank $50,000 into Minibonds.
The money, he said, represents 'no more than a couple of per cent' of his entire investment portfolio.
=> Would this punk be so yaya if this were to be his life savings?
More to the point, he accepts responsibility for any loss he suffers.
'In my case I don't think there was mis-selling,' he said.
'I read through everything in the prospectus and I didn't just rely on the bankers. However, no one could have thought that Lehman would collapse as it had a pretty good credit rating.'
He conceded that there were probably genuine cases in which products were mis-sold, especially to those who had a low-risk profile.
However, he said, investors 'have a responsibility to read everything and not just sign'.
For now, he is holding on to the hope that there will be a new swap counterparty to replace Lehman in the Minibond programme. If this goes through, it is likely that Minibond holders will get back more from their investments at maturity than if they had been forced to cash out now.
Like Mr Lai, a handful of investors that The Sunday Times managed to track down said they had walked into the deals with their eyes open.
A human resources manager in her late 50s is staring at losses of up to $200,000 but is also not lodging a complaint.
She bought $100,000 worth of Lehman Minibonds in July last year based on a recommendation from a relationship manager. She also bought $100,000 of DBS High Notes5, after a friend told her to buy them.
'I blame my friend, but then he also lost money,' she said.
She is not complaining about mis-selling because 'I walked in with my eyes open'.
'At DBS, the relationship manager did tell me that the only time I could lose my money was if there was a credit event, but he also said that all the banks listed were rated AA. But I didn't quite realise that I could lose all my money.
'This is partially my fault. I can read but I didn't read. I knew I might lose some money, but who can predict these things? When we have decided to invest this sum over here and another sum over there, we don't really read the documentation. The decision is made within two seconds.'
As to how she felt about losing her money, she said: 'I know it's painful but I didn't really lose any sleep over it. If you think too much about it, you will feel worse. So be it.
'If I were so upset, I would go and fight like everyone else, but it would take up so much of my time and energy.'
Another investor, Ms Joyce Lou, 40, has also decided that taking out a complaint is not worth the effort.
The financial adviser has $5,000 in Minibonds and $5,000 in Pinnacle Notes, another product which has plunged in value.
'I think everyone should be responsible for his own money. I admit, I should have found out more,' she said.
She added that her profession would also work against any claims of mis-selling.
According to the latest figures from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, one out of every four investors who bought a financial product linked to Lehman Brothers has lodged a formal complaint of mis-selling.
DBS Bank, for example, has received around 450 to 500 complaints of mis-selling. About 1,400 people here invested over $103million in its High Notes5.
But Mr David Gerald, president of the Securities Investors Association of Singapore, warns against jumping to the conclusion that the majority of investors are not bothered by the loss.
'There may be a number of reasons why they have not put up their hands yet. Some of them may think it's still early days and they are waiting to see what the financial institutions will do. There could also be some who feel that they invested with their eyes open or that the amount invested is not much.'
A chief executive of a financial institution said he knows of pockets of 'responsible investors who are facing up to the facts and who are not intending to do anything'.
He estimates that these account for some 10 to 20per cent of his clients.
However, he was not able to let The Sunday Times contact them, citing client confidentiality and 'not wanting to stir up something'.
Other industry sources said it was unlikely that such investors would openly confess to having made a bad investment decision, as it would be not only embarrassing but also harmful in the event that they changed their minds about lodging complaints.
In any case, those who have decided not to complain are determined to move on.
Financial adviser Ms Lou said: 'I'm not going to die because of this $10,000. I invest money that I don't need to use for the next two years at least, so there's no impact on the way I lead my life.'
Year-end vacations will go on as planned and Ms Lou is 'shopping around' for a trip to Australia.
IT entrepreneur Mr Lai is also not about to cancel his four jaunts to Hong Kong, Australia, Japan and Korea. As for the human resources manager who may end up $200,000 poorer, her advice after this fiasco is: 'Put your money in fixed deposits. It's safe.'
[email protected]
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