Watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRFq6mJhOiw
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Videos about speeches in Speaker's Corner
Dear Mr. Tan,
Do you have video recording of your speech in Speaker's Corner. Where can I find it?
REPLY
You can go to http://www.youtube.com/. Search for Tan Kin Lian. It gives you a list of all the speeches in Speaker's Corner. It also shows some TV programs about the minibond crisis.
It also contains my speech in Chinese delivered by Goh Meng Seng.
Do you have video recording of your speech in Speaker's Corner. Where can I find it?
REPLY
You can go to http://www.youtube.com/. Search for Tan Kin Lian. It gives you a list of all the speeches in Speaker's Corner. It also shows some TV programs about the minibond crisis.
It also contains my speech in Chinese delivered by Goh Meng Seng.
US Attorney General recovers for investors in auction rate secruties
Dear Mr. Tan
Can Singapore learn from New York?
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/media_center/2008/oct/oct8a_08.html
ATTORNEY GENERAL CUOMO ANNOUNCES SETTLEMENTS WITH BANK OF AMERICA AND ROYAL BANK OF CANADA TO RECOVER BILLIONS FOR INVESTORS IN AUCTION-RATE SECURITIES
NEW YORK, NY (October 8, 2008) - Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced two more agreements to provide liquidity to consumers who purchased auction-rate securities. Banc of America Securities LLC and Banc of America Investment Services, Inc. ("Bank of America") will return over $4.5 billion to investors across New York State and the nation. RBC Capital Markets Corporation ("RBC") will return over $850 million to investors across New York State and the nation. These agreements settle allegations that Bank of America and RBC made misrepresentations in its marketing and sales of auction-rate securities. Bank of America and RBC marketed and sold auction-rate securities as safe, cash-equivalent products, when in fact they faced increasing liquidity risk.
"In today's economic climate, it's more important than ever for investors to be able to access their money. Returning billions of dollars back to investors not only protects their interests but also increases confidence in the entire market," said Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. "Since the beginning of our investigation into the auction-rate securities market, our objective has been to provide relief to investors who have been unable to sell auction-rate securities as a result of widespread auction failures in February 2008. With these settlements, we've returned over $50 billion back into investors' hands, providing relief to the overwhelming majority of individual investors who were fraudulently sold auction-rate securities."
Similar to prior settlements in the industry-wide investigation, Bank of America and RBC have agreed to buyback auction-rate securities from certain customers. Bank of America has agreed to offer to buy back all illiquid auction-rate securities from all of Bank of America's retail customers, small businesses with less than $15 million on deposit and charities with less than $25 million on deposit. RBC has agreed to offer to buy back all illiquid auction-rate securities from all of RBC's individual customers; charities, non-profits and government entities with less than $25 million on deposit; and all other entities with less than $10 million on deposit.
Can Singapore learn from New York?
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/media_center/2008/oct/oct8a_08.html
ATTORNEY GENERAL CUOMO ANNOUNCES SETTLEMENTS WITH BANK OF AMERICA AND ROYAL BANK OF CANADA TO RECOVER BILLIONS FOR INVESTORS IN AUCTION-RATE SECURITIES
NEW YORK, NY (October 8, 2008) - Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced two more agreements to provide liquidity to consumers who purchased auction-rate securities. Banc of America Securities LLC and Banc of America Investment Services, Inc. ("Bank of America") will return over $4.5 billion to investors across New York State and the nation. RBC Capital Markets Corporation ("RBC") will return over $850 million to investors across New York State and the nation. These agreements settle allegations that Bank of America and RBC made misrepresentations in its marketing and sales of auction-rate securities. Bank of America and RBC marketed and sold auction-rate securities as safe, cash-equivalent products, when in fact they faced increasing liquidity risk.
"In today's economic climate, it's more important than ever for investors to be able to access their money. Returning billions of dollars back to investors not only protects their interests but also increases confidence in the entire market," said Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. "Since the beginning of our investigation into the auction-rate securities market, our objective has been to provide relief to investors who have been unable to sell auction-rate securities as a result of widespread auction failures in February 2008. With these settlements, we've returned over $50 billion back into investors' hands, providing relief to the overwhelming majority of individual investors who were fraudulently sold auction-rate securities."
Similar to prior settlements in the industry-wide investigation, Bank of America and RBC have agreed to buyback auction-rate securities from certain customers. Bank of America has agreed to offer to buy back all illiquid auction-rate securities from all of Bank of America's retail customers, small businesses with less than $15 million on deposit and charities with less than $25 million on deposit. RBC has agreed to offer to buy back all illiquid auction-rate securities from all of RBC's individual customers; charities, non-profits and government entities with less than $25 million on deposit; and all other entities with less than $10 million on deposit.
High risk from inception
Dear Mr. Tan
One of the crucial issues that MAS has to consider is whether all these structured products that have come to grief can be categorized as high risk products from the time they were rolled out to the public. If Lehman Brothers has not become insolvent, would it make the scenario any different, with regard to the question of the underlying risks of the products?
Surely, the answer must be No. If an evaluation of these products [with Lehman being Arranger and Counter-swap Party etc] were to show that they were highly risky to investors, then the risks would remain unaltered regardless of the financial status of Lehman for much of the term of the investment, or until the investors were repaid their principal.
If the consensus is that these structured products were highly risky investments, then it was grossly irresponsible for any distributor to sell them to retail investors without making clear the risks involved, or by making misrepresentations of the risks involved, or closing the deal with the investor despite knowing, from risk-analysis, that this was against the risk-profile of the investor - let alone adopting a marketing strategy promoting them as safe or sound investments through the use of such terms like “Invest on solid foundations” and “With our Minibond Series 3 credit-linked to six major financial institutions, you can enjoy the returns you deserve with peace of mind.”
Any misrepresentations made by the RMs would of course constitute a legit ground for seeking restitution from the institution[s] they were representing. MAS should come down hard on the distributors who had mis-sold or misrepresented, instead of blurting out "This group should have understood the risks of investing in these products and take responsibilities for their actions”, clearly a prejudicial or arbitrary comment.
Richard Woo
One of the crucial issues that MAS has to consider is whether all these structured products that have come to grief can be categorized as high risk products from the time they were rolled out to the public. If Lehman Brothers has not become insolvent, would it make the scenario any different, with regard to the question of the underlying risks of the products?
Surely, the answer must be No. If an evaluation of these products [with Lehman being Arranger and Counter-swap Party etc] were to show that they were highly risky to investors, then the risks would remain unaltered regardless of the financial status of Lehman for much of the term of the investment, or until the investors were repaid their principal.
If the consensus is that these structured products were highly risky investments, then it was grossly irresponsible for any distributor to sell them to retail investors without making clear the risks involved, or by making misrepresentations of the risks involved, or closing the deal with the investor despite knowing, from risk-analysis, that this was against the risk-profile of the investor - let alone adopting a marketing strategy promoting them as safe or sound investments through the use of such terms like “Invest on solid foundations” and “With our Minibond Series 3 credit-linked to six major financial institutions, you can enjoy the returns you deserve with peace of mind.”
Any misrepresentations made by the RMs would of course constitute a legit ground for seeking restitution from the institution[s] they were representing. MAS should come down hard on the distributors who had mis-sold or misrepresented, instead of blurting out "This group should have understood the risks of investing in these products and take responsibilities for their actions”, clearly a prejudicial or arbitrary comment.
Richard Woo
Do you hear the people sing - version #4
Les Miserables
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VR1bOha40U
Chorus
Do you hear our voices sing?
Singing songs of agony?
It is the wailing of the people
Who’s been cheated of our money!
When the banks claim innocence,
and the authority's voiceless
There is a fight about to start,
for what is ours!
Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Beyond the disclaimers
Is there justice you long to see?
Then join in the fight
That will give you the right to be free!
Chorus:
Will you give all you can give
So that our banner may advance
Against the institutions,
Will you stand and take your chance?
The despair of our people
Can all be seen at a glance!
Chorus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VR1bOha40U
Chorus
Do you hear our voices sing?
Singing songs of agony?
It is the wailing of the people
Who’s been cheated of our money!
When the banks claim innocence,
and the authority's voiceless
There is a fight about to start,
for what is ours!
Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Beyond the disclaimers
Is there justice you long to see?
Then join in the fight
That will give you the right to be free!
Chorus:
Will you give all you can give
So that our banner may advance
Against the institutions,
Will you stand and take your chance?
The despair of our people
Can all be seen at a glance!
Chorus:
Mini-bond investor gives his view
Dear Mr. Tan
I would like to response to some misconceptions and unfair criticisms to the minibond holders from the general public (and probably including some of our leaders). They are :
1) When Lehman brothers did not fail, these minibond holders collected their quarterly payout and kept quiet. Now they got burned, they want MAS to bail them out ?
We did not asked MAS to bail us out. What we are asking is: MAS please carry out your duty , i.e. to investigate into any mis-selling and mis-representations.
2) Since you have make a wrong decision in investment , you have to take responsibility and accept the consequences.
Many of us were misled into believing that the product we bought is a bond issued by the six leading banks (or the investment is to buy into bond issued by the six banks) namely, DBS, Citibank, Merrill lynch. Goldman Sachs, HSBC, and Standard Chartered bank. Now then we discovered that the bond is actually not issued by the six banks and worse it is not a bond, instead, it is a very complex product which even the sales people from the Financial institutions are unable to explain clearly.
3) The risks are explained in the prospectus in bold print that you can lose everything. Therefore minibond holders cannot claim that they do not know the risks
We understand that the principal amount is not guaranteed. But we are misled into believing that the bond is issued by the six leading banks(or the investment is to buy into bond issued by the six banks) and therefore if one of the six bank fail, the maximum loss is only 1/6 (16.7%) of the principal amount. We will lose everything only when all the six leading banks go bankrupt. Since Lehman brothers is not one of the six banks, we should not suffer any loss.
4) it is greed that drive them to invest in minibond.
Many of us bought the bond during last year when the market is good, if it is greed, then we should invested in stocks, because the return is easily 20% to 30% within weeks. But instead we chose to part our money in minibond for five full years just to earn a total return of 25.5% ( 5 x 5.1%).
5) high return high risk, since you get 5.1%, the risk should be high.
Comparing with the OCBC 4.2% and 4.5% preference shares available from the stock market, which we can sell the shares anytime if we need cash, the interest offered by the bond is not very attractive because we have to part the money for 5 years just for 5.1% interest. But the bond is issued by the six leading banks, the risk should be much lower than OCBC preference shares(six bank against one).
Thank you.
I would like to response to some misconceptions and unfair criticisms to the minibond holders from the general public (and probably including some of our leaders). They are :
1) When Lehman brothers did not fail, these minibond holders collected their quarterly payout and kept quiet. Now they got burned, they want MAS to bail them out ?
We did not asked MAS to bail us out. What we are asking is: MAS please carry out your duty , i.e. to investigate into any mis-selling and mis-representations.
2) Since you have make a wrong decision in investment , you have to take responsibility and accept the consequences.
Many of us were misled into believing that the product we bought is a bond issued by the six leading banks (or the investment is to buy into bond issued by the six banks) namely, DBS, Citibank, Merrill lynch. Goldman Sachs, HSBC, and Standard Chartered bank. Now then we discovered that the bond is actually not issued by the six banks and worse it is not a bond, instead, it is a very complex product which even the sales people from the Financial institutions are unable to explain clearly.
3) The risks are explained in the prospectus in bold print that you can lose everything. Therefore minibond holders cannot claim that they do not know the risks
We understand that the principal amount is not guaranteed. But we are misled into believing that the bond is issued by the six leading banks(or the investment is to buy into bond issued by the six banks) and therefore if one of the six bank fail, the maximum loss is only 1/6 (16.7%) of the principal amount. We will lose everything only when all the six leading banks go bankrupt. Since Lehman brothers is not one of the six banks, we should not suffer any loss.
4) it is greed that drive them to invest in minibond.
Many of us bought the bond during last year when the market is good, if it is greed, then we should invested in stocks, because the return is easily 20% to 30% within weeks. But instead we chose to part our money in minibond for five full years just to earn a total return of 25.5% ( 5 x 5.1%).
5) high return high risk, since you get 5.1%, the risk should be high.
Comparing with the OCBC 4.2% and 4.5% preference shares available from the stock market, which we can sell the shares anytime if we need cash, the interest offered by the bond is not very attractive because we have to part the money for 5 years just for 5.1% interest. But the bond is issued by the six leading banks, the risk should be much lower than OCBC preference shares(six bank against one).
Thank you.
Savings of retired workers
My friend who works in the NTUC group told me that she was misled into investing in the structured product. Being financially trained, she was quite careful and asked about the product, before she made the investment. She was mis-informed about the product by the relationship manager.
I suggested to her that she should bring it to the attention of the leaders in NTUC, specially the ministers and members of parliament. So many people have been misled. Many of them are the retired workers who invested all of their life time savings. She agreed.
I suggested to her that she should bring it to the attention of the leaders in NTUC, specially the ministers and members of parliament. So many people have been misled. Many of them are the retired workers who invested all of their life time savings. She agreed.
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