Saturday, October 3, 2009

Difficulty of forming class action for Pinnacle investors

Dear Mr Tan,
I have been advised by few people to approach you for advice with regards to the Early Redemption of the Pinnacle Notes Series 1 (S1) by Morgan Stanley on 21 Aug 09.

Briefly, sometime in Aug 2006, my financial advisor approached me and recommended the Pinnacle Notes. Trusting the security firm and my financial advisor's assurance that this was a low risk product, we proceeded to purchase the Pinnacle Notes.

After the collapse of Lehman Brothers, we started receiving adhoc updates from the security firm in relation to the Pinnacle Notes. The update on the Early Redemption on 21 Aug 09 showed a meager 0.57388% payout.

I heard that there is an action group engaging lawyers to file a civil suit. I will like to seek your advice, as well as to find out more in order to assess what is a better option for me in pursuit of a settlement.

REPLY
To my knowledge, the investors of the Pinnacle Notes are not able to organise a class action. Many investors are in the same situation as you, and they are also at a loss. Some have lodged complaint at FIDREC and in nearly all cases, their complaint has been rejected by FIDREC.

Honestly, I do not know what you can do now. I tried to get the Government to help the same investors who were misled, but they also refused.