Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Insurance and technology
How should a country use technology to deliver insurance to its people efficiently and usefully? This paper contains some of my ideas.
Be considerate and give way
To motorists in Singapore
When you see the car in front of you signal its intention to change lane, do slow down, give way and let that car move into your lane. The driver may be unfamiliar with the road and realised, quite late, that the car is in the wrong lane.
Do not sound the horn loudly and speed up to "chop" your place in the lane. Use your brake, rather than your horn. It does not cost you to be considerate and helpful. It will make life better for everyone in Singapore.
Tan Kin Lian
Performance of the Government
How do you rate the performance of the Government and ministers in running the country and managing the economic crisis? Join this survey.
Here are the preliminary survey results based on 49 and 97 replies.
HK: Minibond mom hits bank for $6m
A customer has filed a writ against Citic Ka Wah Bank in the High Court seeking the return of HK$6 million she invested in Lehman minibonds, alleging she had not been informed of the risks involved.
Lau Wai-lan, 45, is suing the bank for misrepresentation, unconscionable conduct and negligent investment advice. She is being assisted by the Democratic Party.
Lau is a single mother of three. She received secondary education but suffered a chronic brain injury in 1994 and has not been able to work since. Her sister, Lau Wai-ping, said Lau has been under immense mental stress since the failure of Lehman Brothers.
She has twice attempted suicide and is now on a regime of tranquilizers.
"We sent a few letters to the bank and the Securities and Futures Commission in October, but we received no assistance. This is our last resort," Lau Wai-ping said.
In 1995, Lau Wai-lan divorced her husband and sold her assets for HK$6.2 million. She put the money in a Bank of China fixed-time deposit and used the interest to support her three children, who are now aged eight, nine and 15.
On January 6, 2006, Lau claimed she was persuaded by a staff member she had known for several years to put HK$3 million into a 4 percent fixed-term deposit account at the Tai Wai branch of the bank.
But two weeks later, Lau broke the deposit to invest in the minibond series 23 HKD fixed- rate callable credit-linked notes due 2011 after being allegedly assured the investment was "low risk" and "safer than a bank deposit with triple A guarantee." Lau was also guaranteed a 5.1 percent interest rate.
On August 16, she transferred another HK$3 million in savings from her Citibank account and invested in minibond series 27.
Lau Wai-ping insisted her sister always reminded staff of her physical status and asked them not to introduce her to high-risk products.
In the writ, Lau maintained she was never told she might not obtain any refund of the principal at the end of the investment period. She was also not informed of any commission or financial interests involved.
The writ said the bank should perform a duty of care towards Lau, as well as provide proper advice and assistance. Lau was also rendered unable to make informed decisions as to what was in her own best interests.
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=79125&sid=22979423&con_type=1
Lau Wai-lan, 45, is suing the bank for misrepresentation, unconscionable conduct and negligent investment advice. She is being assisted by the Democratic Party.
Lau is a single mother of three. She received secondary education but suffered a chronic brain injury in 1994 and has not been able to work since. Her sister, Lau Wai-ping, said Lau has been under immense mental stress since the failure of Lehman Brothers.
She has twice attempted suicide and is now on a regime of tranquilizers.
"We sent a few letters to the bank and the Securities and Futures Commission in October, but we received no assistance. This is our last resort," Lau Wai-ping said.
In 1995, Lau Wai-lan divorced her husband and sold her assets for HK$6.2 million. She put the money in a Bank of China fixed-time deposit and used the interest to support her three children, who are now aged eight, nine and 15.
On January 6, 2006, Lau claimed she was persuaded by a staff member she had known for several years to put HK$3 million into a 4 percent fixed-term deposit account at the Tai Wai branch of the bank.
But two weeks later, Lau broke the deposit to invest in the minibond series 23 HKD fixed- rate callable credit-linked notes due 2011 after being allegedly assured the investment was "low risk" and "safer than a bank deposit with triple A guarantee." Lau was also guaranteed a 5.1 percent interest rate.
On August 16, she transferred another HK$3 million in savings from her Citibank account and invested in minibond series 27.
Lau Wai-ping insisted her sister always reminded staff of her physical status and asked them not to introduce her to high-risk products.
In the writ, Lau maintained she was never told she might not obtain any refund of the principal at the end of the investment period. She was also not informed of any commission or financial interests involved.
The writ said the bank should perform a duty of care towards Lau, as well as provide proper advice and assistance. Lau was also rendered unable to make informed decisions as to what was in her own best interests.
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=79125&sid=22979423&con_type=1
Legal action on Credit Linked Notes
Several investors had received the rejection letters on their claims for compensation. They have been disappointed at the outcome, after waiting for several months. They felt that they were unfairly treated and are keen to take collective legal action now.
A few legal teams have been organised. Before you decide to join any collective action, you should get answers to the following questions:
1. What are the legal grounds proposed by the lawyer to pursue the claim for compensation?
2. What are the chance of winning based on the strategy proposed by the lawyer? Why and how?
3. What are the terms of engagement of the lawyer?
Terms of engagement
a) What is the initial amount payable
b) What are the estimated payments for the various stages of the case?
c) What are the actual charges to be paid to the lawyers
d) Is there a maximum cap on the legal fees and charges?
e) If the cases are settled earlier, will the participants get a refund of the unused fees?
Before you sign on the letter of appointment and write your cheque, you should attend a briefing to be given by the lawyer where all of the above points have been explained and accepted by you. If you are not sure, you should get the viwes of fellow participants and make your personal judgement.
FIDREC
You still have the option of getting your case adjudicated in FIDREC for a fee of $50. You can ask FIDREC to get the financial institution representative to complete this questionnaire, so that the adjudicator has the full facts on both sides to make an adjudication.
There was no one left to speak for me
Extract from the letter by Lasantha Wikramatunga, assassinated editor of a newspaper in Sri Lanka.
People often ask me why I take such risks and tell me it is a matter of time before I am bumped off. Of course I know that: it is inevitable. But if we do not speak out now, there will be no one left to speak for those who cannot, whether they be ethnic minorities, the disadvantaged or the persecuted. An example that has inspired me throughout my career in journalism has been that of the German theologian, Martin Niemoller. In his youth he was an anti-Semite and an admirer of Hitler. As Nazism took hold in Germany, however, he saw Nazism for what it was: it was not just the Jews Hitler sought to extirpate, it was just about anyone with an alternate point of view. Niemoller spoke out, and for his trouble was incarcerated in the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1937 to 1945, and very nearly executed. While incarcerated, Niemoller wrote a poem that, from the first time I read it in my teenage years, stuck hauntingly in my mind:
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
If you remember nothing else, remember this: The Leader is there for you, be you Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, low-caste, homosexual, dissident or disabled. Its staff will fight on, unbowed and unafraid, with the courage to which you have become accustomed. Do not take that commitment for granted. Let there be no doubt that whatever sacrifices we journalists make, they are not made for our own glory or enrichment: they are made for you. Whether you deserve their sacrifice is another matter. As for me, God knows I tried.
People often ask me why I take such risks and tell me it is a matter of time before I am bumped off. Of course I know that: it is inevitable. But if we do not speak out now, there will be no one left to speak for those who cannot, whether they be ethnic minorities, the disadvantaged or the persecuted. An example that has inspired me throughout my career in journalism has been that of the German theologian, Martin Niemoller. In his youth he was an anti-Semite and an admirer of Hitler. As Nazism took hold in Germany, however, he saw Nazism for what it was: it was not just the Jews Hitler sought to extirpate, it was just about anyone with an alternate point of view. Niemoller spoke out, and for his trouble was incarcerated in the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1937 to 1945, and very nearly executed. While incarcerated, Niemoller wrote a poem that, from the first time I read it in my teenage years, stuck hauntingly in my mind:
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
If you remember nothing else, remember this: The Leader is there for you, be you Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, low-caste, homosexual, dissident or disabled. Its staff will fight on, unbowed and unafraid, with the courage to which you have become accustomed. Do not take that commitment for granted. Let there be no doubt that whatever sacrifices we journalists make, they are not made for our own glory or enrichment: they are made for you. Whether you deserve their sacrifice is another matter. As for me, God knows I tried.
Dispute Resolution through FIDREC
If you have lodged your complaint to FIDREC, please read the following advisory from MAS.
You have probably been asked to complete a questionnaire to provide the facts on your complaint. This puts the onus on the investor to justify the claim.
As the complainant, you can ask FIDREC to get the financial institution's representative to complete a questionnaire based on the attached questionnaire. This will provide information for the adjudicator to decide on any possible mis-selling of the product.
I have asked the Consumer Association to suggest to FIDREC that this questionnaire should be used. I have not heard about any decision on this matter.
As you investor, you can ask FIDREC to get the answers to this questionaire, in the interest of fairness and natural justice. I hope that you find this questionnaire to be useful to support your complaint,
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