Friday, September 19, 2008

Mini-bonds - ask MAS to investigate

Hi Mr. Tan,
Last year due to some unfortunate series of events, my parents and I decided to invest in the minibonds, which is already gone as Lehman Brother is undergoing liquidation. It is very sad, but we have to accept the loss.

REPLY
It is unfortunate that Lehman Brothers went into bankrupcy, triggering a credit event. If they had been rescued like AIG, the credit event could have been avoided.

You should write to ask MAS to investigate what happen to the mini-bonds. Although a credit event has been triggered, you should ask what really happened to the money. Who took the money when a credit event is triggered?

It seems that many investors lost their money, and someone must have made a big gain. I undersand that the money raised from the mini-bonds are actually invested in other assets and are not invested in Lehman Brothers. So, somebody must have made a big gain at the expense of the small investors.

Please ask MAS to investigate this structure on behalf of the small investors.