Monday, October 27, 2008

A fair compensation

Dear Mr. Tan,
Why should the investors in the mini-bonds and other notes expect to get full compensation for the investments? Surely, they know that there must be some risk, when they expect to get interest rate of 5%, when FD is only 1% or less.

Do you know that the people who invested in stocks are suffering losses of 50% or more. Can we ask for compensation? Even A-rated bonds can fail. Can the investor than ask for compensation from the distributor?

Surly all kind of investments have risk. Why should the mini-bond holders expect full compensation? Why are you supporting this unreasonable claim?

REPLY
I believe that these structured products should not be sold in the first place. If the distributor had properly described the product, it is likely that nobody would have bought them.

In my personal view, the loss should be shared equally between the distributor and the investor (i.e. noteholder). It will not be fair for the investor to shoulder the loss entirely. It is also not fair for the distributor to make a full compensation. I hope that both parties will make a compromise and agree to share the loss equally. Many investors have told me that they will accept such an offer.