What Did He Do When Sporns Kena Conned by Lehman and Minibonds?

[makapaaa]

Retiring MAS MD entering politics?
Posted: 30 March 2011 2005 hrs <LINK rel=image_src href="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/imagegallery/store/phps0ZmfT.jpg">
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Mr Heng Swee Keat.</TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD><TD class=update> </TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD><TD><TABLE style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #cccccc" border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=240><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width="100%"><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff"><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=topic vAlign=top align=left>Related News </TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#cccccc vAlign=top align=left>

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SINGAPORE: News of Monetary Authority of Singapore's managing director Heng Swee Keat stepping down from his post from Saturday has fuelled speculation he might enter politics.

Mr Heng has been touted as a potential new candidate for the ruling People's Action Party (PAP).

The 49-year-old was a Singapore Police Force overseas scholar. He joined the Administrative service in 1997, holding posts within the Education and Trade and Industry Ministries.

He also served as Principal Private Secretary to then-Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew from 1997 to 2000.

He joined the MAS in 2005.

Taking over from Mr Heng would be 47-year-old Ravi Menon, who will relinquish his appointment as Permanent Secretary of the Trade and Industry Ministry.

Mrs Ow Foong Pheng, Second Permanent Secretary (Trade and Industry), will cover his duties, till a replacement is appointed.

MPs whom Channel NewsAsia spoke with said they won't be surprised if Mr Heng does join politics.

MP for Pasir-Ris Punggol Group Representation Constituency (GRC), Charles Chong said the PAP has not identified any "high flying" civil servants yet.

Mr Chong also pointed to the fact that Mr Heng resigned "at short notice" and did not state "where he is going to next".

MP for Hong Kah GRC Zaqy Mohamad said if Mr Heng does join politics, he would "likely take on an office holder position", given his wealth of experience in the area of finance and monetary policies.

Mr Zaqy noted that Mr Heng "would have a similar background to Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam".

In an email to MediaCorp, Mr Heng said: I have served in the public sector for over 27 years, in a variety of jobs, from frontline policing to policy work at Ministry HQs and PMO, and from international trade negotiations to central banking.

"It has been a very satisfying experience, working with so many people in the community and the public sector who are very committed to improving the lives of Singaporeans.

"I deeply appreciate the trust and confidence of my friends and colleagues, and thank them for their support and encouragement all these years.

"I am confident that Mr Ravi Menon, who is taking over from me as MD MAS, will lead MAS well, and I wish Ravi every success."

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[makapaaa]

Lehman Minibond Investors Offered Higher Payout After Hong Kong Protests

<CITE class=byline>By John Duce and Stephanie Tong - <SCRIPT type=text/javascript>document.write(dateFormat(new Date(1301309626000),"mmm d, yyyy h:MM TT Z"));</SCRIPT>Mar 28, 2011 6:53 PM GMT+0800 <NOSCRIPT></NOSCRIPT></CITE>

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The bankruptcy triggered a slump in the value of the notes and sparked almost daily protests by buyers who said they had been misled. Photographer: Adam Dean/Bloomberg

The former Lehman Brothers headquarters in New York. Photographer: Jin Lee/Bloomberg

Protesters hold placards displaying a photograph of He Guangbei, chief executive officer of BOC Hong Kong Holdings Ltd., during a rally outside the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong. Photographer: Dale de la Rey/Bloomberg



Hong Kong holders of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (LEHMQ).-linked structured notes may get as much as 96.5 percent of their money back as banks make a second attempt to settle a dispute that forced them to change the way they sell investment products.
Investors in some series of the so-called minibonds will get 70 percent to 93 percent of their money back, receiver PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said yesterday. Lenders offered an additional payment that will bring eligible investors’ recovery levels to as high as 96.5 percent. An agreement is conditional on noteholders voting in favor of the settlement.
The offer covers about 31,000 buyers whose investments were almost wiped out when Lehman Brothers collapsed in September 2008. A July 2009 repayment offer of at least 60 cents on the dollar in Hong Kong failed to mollify all investors, with some staging daily protests outside bank branches across the city.
“The settlement is a much better deal for investors than the previous one,” said Billy Mak, an associate professor in the department of finance and decision sciences at the Hong Kong Baptist University. “If they insist on a 100-percent refund by filing lawsuits, there’s going to be costs in taking legal actions and the final compensation could be less.”
About 43,000 investors in Hong Kong bought an estimated $1.8 billion of Lehman minibonds that were sold by lenders before the New York-based investment bank succumbed to the financial crisis. Almost daily protests outside bank branches, featuring banging of cymbals and bullhorns blaring pre-recorded statements, became a nuisance for lenders and their customers.
Want Money Back

“This latest repurchase proposal doesn’t reflect the large-scale violations in regulations by the banks,” said Eddy Chan, a representative of the Alliance of Lehman Brothers Victims in Hong Kong. “We want 100 percent of our money back as a minimum. They should disclose more of the details of the negotiations.”
Chan said the group previously comprised of about 6,000 minibond investors though the number may have shrunk as some have accepted the settlement.
“I won’t accept the latest proposal,” Esther Ip, 58, who invested HK$1 million in a minibond product in 2008, said in an interview today. “Why should they only include investors of some minibond series?
Ip was among about 50 protesters gathered outside the main office of Bank of China Ltd. (3988) in Hong Kong who were waving banners with slogans including “Lehman not settled” and “BOC uses tricks to cheat money from citizens.”
The July 2009 agreement originally covered about 29,000 investors. HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) is the trustee for the minibonds.
Extra Payments

“This seems to be a good outcome,” said David Webb, a Hong Kong-based shareholder activist. “The agreement doesn’t cover all the bonds, but this should reduce the number of people who are still thinking of going to court over this issue to very small numbers.”
An estimated 4 percent of note holders would get at least 90 percent of their investments back, and 65 percent of those eligible would get 80 percent to 90 percent. The “ex gratia” payment is on top of that and covers minibond investors who have already settled with their banks.
Some 96 percent of minibond holders eligible for repayments under the original agreement had already accepted offers to repurchase their bonds before yesterday’s announcement by the receivers and Lehman Brothers Special Financing Inc.
Collateralized Products

“This is a very decent offer,” K.C. Chan, the Hong Kong secretary for financial services and the Treasury, said in a statement today. “Regarding the redemption of collateralized products, the issue should have been completely resolved.”
BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) Ltd., Bank of China’s Hong Kong unit, said in a statement late yesterday that it will make HK$160 million ($20.5 million) available for the settlement of the minibonds, and that it plans to write back part of the provisions for the investments.
A Hong Kong court in February cleared a BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) Ltd. manager of fraudulently or recklessly inducing retail clients to buy Lehman minibonds. A second employee is awaiting a verdict on the same charges.
The lender, along with 15 banks, agreed in an earlier settlement to pay at least 60 cents on the dollar, for HK$6.3 billion. That agreement was reached with the Securities and Futures Commission and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
BOC Hong Kong, the biggest seller of the notes in the city, offered in July 2009 to pay HK$3.11 billion to the minibond investors, almost half the total compensation extended by the banks. The lender also said then it would make an aggregate provision of HK$3.63 billion for the settlement.
Lump Sum Payment

The 16 banks have offered to pay a lump sum of up to 50 percent of the shortfall in the amount invested in minibonds to people who already came to individual agreements with banks over the issue, according to yesterday’s statement. Bondholders will vote on the settlement at a series of meetings and payments may start in June, the banks said.
“This outcome would have been as impossible in the months following the collapse of Lehman,” according to a statement issued by the Securities and Futures Commission yesterday. “We are pleased to note that investors of the relevant mini bond series will benefit from the high level of recovery.”.
The inquiry into the sale of minibonds prompted the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the city’s de facto central bank, to propose that lenders physically separate deposit-taking and investment businesses at their branches and tape all conversations related to sales of investment products.
The notes were sold to investors including the elderly and poorly educated people as well as mentally ill individuals, according to an investigation by the city’s central bank made public by lawmakers in April 2009.
To contact the reporters on this story: John Duce in Hong Kong at [email protected]; Stephanie Tong in Hong Kong at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Philip Lagerkranser at [email protected]

 

[makapaaa]

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Simmering bitterness over MAS handling of minibond misselling



Letter
Littlespecks.com, 28 Jul 2009

The following is a letter published in the Tan Kin Lian blog on July, 25 under the headline, 'Cheated in a good reputation country.'

Dear MAS officer,
I would like to share a story with your MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) people.

Twenty years ago, my father finished his army service and got a big sum money for his army service in China. The amount is equal to 5 years salary.

He bought 10 years China government bond with that money from a national bank. He thought China government bond was very safe and he only want to use it for his children's education need in the future. He locked those coupon with much care.

Ten years later, when the bond matured, he brought the coupon to bank to cash out, the teller told him the coupon were faked. He can not get anything. What a big shock for him and his family. The teller from national bank sold him the faked coupon.

The bank told him they could not find the teller any more. He was not the only unlucky person. Actually there are quite a lot of people faced the same. They together tried to ask help from bank, government, press, and law firm.

Finally, a lawyer want to take their case. However, somebody threaten the lawyer and the press. The press stopped reporting their story and lawyer didn't dare to take their case.

His daughter thought this was a place without justice. She studied very hard to got in a good university and later left the place for what she thought was a better country.

However, what happened to her? She fell into the same trap. She didn't suspect that the famous Singapore financial institution would cheat people's money also.

She clearly told the FI officer she needed government bond only as she was very conservative and she needed the money for her father's medical need. Her father is paralyzed now. However, The RM sold her toxic complicated product with a faked name "Bond".

She was worse hurt. Her father had to accept the unfair things that happened in a developing country. For her, she didn't prepared for such unfair things in this good reputation country.

___________If you, MAS people, the best educated and smartest people in Singapore, allowed such unfair things to continue, I won't cry for my money, but cry for your future. If the best educated, smartest people are not looking for justice, what is the future for this country?
[/SIZE]
Best Regard!
Signed GD

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