Dear Mr. Tan,
I suggest that you block the rubbish that is being posted by SiewKhim. This person is really terrible. He writes defamatory, malicious statements.
REPLY
I posted his comments so that his IP address can be traced. He is probably on the payroll of an organisation, and is paid to harrass me in my blog. I believe that this is a criminal act and can implicate his paymaster as well.
Some can help me to locate his IP address. You can check the time of his posting and check against the log of the site meter (recent visitors - details) to get the following page:
http://www.sitemeter.com/?a=stats&s=s30tankinlian&r=8
Happy detective work!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Scuffle in HK Protest Over Lehman-Linked Products
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: October 31, 2008
HONG KONG (AP) --Investors in financial products linked to collapsed U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. scuffled with security guards at a bank in Hong Kong on Friday, as some 200 people protested in the financial district against institutions that sold the now worthless products.
The incident highlights anger among the thousands of Hong Kong investors who've been burnt by the Lehman collapse. The outstanding amount of the products is 20.2 billion Hong Kong dollars ($2.6 billion), according to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the territory's defacto central bank.
Several of the protesters got into a scuffle with security guards at a Hong Kong branch of Singapore bank DBS Group Holdings. No one was injured, according to an Associated Press photographer who witnessed the incident.
They were part of a larger group of 200 protesters who marched through the financial district, stopping at several banks that sold Lehman-related products holding signs that said ''major bank fraud'' and ''My money gone, I don't want to live.''
Bank spokeswoman Glendy Chu said none of the DBS security guards were injured.
Investors have complained that bank sales staff were misleading and didn't fully explain the product or connection to Lehman Brothers.
Jonathan Li, a spokesman for the Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong, said the body is still investigating the complaints against the banks.
DBS said recently that most of the 360 million Singapore dollars ($243 million) in Lehman-linked structured notes sold to clients in Singapore and Hong Kong are now worthless. It has offered to pay compensation to clients.
Billions of dollars in souring debt forced Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., once the fourth-largest investment bank in the U.S., to file for bankruptcy last month amid the world's worst financial crisis in decades.
HONG KONG (AP) --Investors in financial products linked to collapsed U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. scuffled with security guards at a bank in Hong Kong on Friday, as some 200 people protested in the financial district against institutions that sold the now worthless products.
The incident highlights anger among the thousands of Hong Kong investors who've been burnt by the Lehman collapse. The outstanding amount of the products is 20.2 billion Hong Kong dollars ($2.6 billion), according to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the territory's defacto central bank.
Several of the protesters got into a scuffle with security guards at a Hong Kong branch of Singapore bank DBS Group Holdings. No one was injured, according to an Associated Press photographer who witnessed the incident.
They were part of a larger group of 200 protesters who marched through the financial district, stopping at several banks that sold Lehman-related products holding signs that said ''major bank fraud'' and ''My money gone, I don't want to live.''
Bank spokeswoman Glendy Chu said none of the DBS security guards were injured.
Investors have complained that bank sales staff were misleading and didn't fully explain the product or connection to Lehman Brothers.
Jonathan Li, a spokesman for the Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong, said the body is still investigating the complaints against the banks.
DBS said recently that most of the 360 million Singapore dollars ($243 million) in Lehman-linked structured notes sold to clients in Singapore and Hong Kong are now worthless. It has offered to pay compensation to clients.
Billions of dollars in souring debt forced Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., once the fourth-largest investment bank in the U.S., to file for bankruptcy last month amid the world's worst financial crisis in decades.
Speaker's Corner - 1 Nov 2008 5 to 7 pm
SPEAKER'S CORNER
Saturday 1 November 2008
Time: 5 - 7 pm
Nearest MRT station: Clarke Quay (NE Line)
Agenda:
1. Update on Petition #4
2. Help to complete complaint form
3. Dialogue with senior management of distributor
4. Collective legal action (as a last resort)
5. Meeting of investors (according to distributor)
6. Translation into Mandarin
Ask your friends and family to attend. Let us aim for a large gathering!
Saturday 1 November 2008
Time: 5 - 7 pm
Nearest MRT station: Clarke Quay (NE Line)
Agenda:
1. Update on Petition #4
2. Help to complete complaint form
3. Dialogue with senior management of distributor
4. Collective legal action (as a last resort)
5. Meeting of investors (according to distributor)
6. Translation into Mandarin
Ask your friends and family to attend. Let us aim for a large gathering!
Speaker’s Corner 1 November 2008 - Speech
1. Petition #4
I have received 1,017 signatures for Petition #4 which is addressed to the Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Petition asks the MAS to:
a) appoint or set up an independent unit to receive the complaints and to provide assistance to the complainants to write their statement.
b) encourage the financial institutions to adopt a collective approach in offering fair compensation to investors who have been misled into investing in these unsuitable investments.
I have lodged the Petition with MAS on Saturday. I have asked to meet the chairman of a senior official of MAS next week.
2. Complaint form
MAS has issued a statement that 2,500 investors have lodged a complaint about mis-selling of the structured products. Another 7,500 investors have not lodged their complaint.
We will continue to help these investors to lodge their complaint. I have printed the complaint form to help the investors to gather the required information.
This form will be distributed to investors at Speaker’s Corner. You can get a form from a volunteer, who can help to explain the required information to you.
The complaint form can also be downloaded from my blog, www.tankinlian.blogspot.com.
For investors who wish to get a lawyer to help to prepare a statutory declaration, the telephone number of the lawyer is stated in the form. Call Ms Ivy Goh (Tel: 68999888). Fee: $120 plus GST
3. Dialogue with senior management
I suggest that investors in each group (based on the distributor that sold the product) should get together to sign a collective letter to the senior management of the distributor.
You should ask the senior management to:
a) Obtain from the trustees a detailed statement of account for each series of the credit linked securities sold to us, from the inception until the latest available date, together with a valuation of each series of the securities at the latest available date.
b) To hold a meeting of the investors to give an explanation on the performance of each series of the securities and to allow the investors to ask questions and seek clarification. You should also ask for the independent, well-regarded person to be present at the meeting.
c) Discuss how the investors were misled into investing in the structured product, and how the distributor can compensate the investors for their loss.
4. Collective legal action
The collective legal action will be considered as the last resort, if it is not possible for the investors and distributor to agree on a fair settlement.
The possible actions that can be taken are:
a) Misleading information in the prospectus and sales materials
b) Mis-representation and inappropriate recommendation given by the sales representatives
5. Meeting of investors
The purpose of the weekly meeting at Speaker’s Corner is for the investors to meet other investors according to the distributor that sold the product to you.
You can share information abow how you were mis-sold and the appropriate steps to make your claim. You can also discuss about the collective legal action (at the last resort).
Some investors have come forward to be leaders of the group. You should contact your group leaders for advice and for collective action.
Please give your full support to your group leaders.
6. Tan Kin Lian’s Blog
Please refer to my blog for the appropriate information and the latest update:
www.tankinlian.blogspot.com.
If you are not able to access the blog, ask your family member or friend to help you.
During this time, I am very busy. Please avoid asking me to spend time on individual matters, as I do not have the time to attend to it.
Tan Kin Lian
I have received 1,017 signatures for Petition #4 which is addressed to the Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Petition asks the MAS to:
a) appoint or set up an independent unit to receive the complaints and to provide assistance to the complainants to write their statement.
b) encourage the financial institutions to adopt a collective approach in offering fair compensation to investors who have been misled into investing in these unsuitable investments.
I have lodged the Petition with MAS on Saturday. I have asked to meet the chairman of a senior official of MAS next week.
2. Complaint form
MAS has issued a statement that 2,500 investors have lodged a complaint about mis-selling of the structured products. Another 7,500 investors have not lodged their complaint.
We will continue to help these investors to lodge their complaint. I have printed the complaint form to help the investors to gather the required information.
This form will be distributed to investors at Speaker’s Corner. You can get a form from a volunteer, who can help to explain the required information to you.
The complaint form can also be downloaded from my blog, www.tankinlian.blogspot.com.
For investors who wish to get a lawyer to help to prepare a statutory declaration, the telephone number of the lawyer is stated in the form. Call Ms Ivy Goh (Tel: 68999888). Fee: $120 plus GST
3. Dialogue with senior management
I suggest that investors in each group (based on the distributor that sold the product) should get together to sign a collective letter to the senior management of the distributor.
You should ask the senior management to:
a) Obtain from the trustees a detailed statement of account for each series of the credit linked securities sold to us, from the inception until the latest available date, together with a valuation of each series of the securities at the latest available date.
b) To hold a meeting of the investors to give an explanation on the performance of each series of the securities and to allow the investors to ask questions and seek clarification. You should also ask for the independent, well-regarded person to be present at the meeting.
c) Discuss how the investors were misled into investing in the structured product, and how the distributor can compensate the investors for their loss.
4. Collective legal action
The collective legal action will be considered as the last resort, if it is not possible for the investors and distributor to agree on a fair settlement.
The possible actions that can be taken are:
a) Misleading information in the prospectus and sales materials
b) Mis-representation and inappropriate recommendation given by the sales representatives
5. Meeting of investors
The purpose of the weekly meeting at Speaker’s Corner is for the investors to meet other investors according to the distributor that sold the product to you.
You can share information abow how you were mis-sold and the appropriate steps to make your claim. You can also discuss about the collective legal action (at the last resort).
Some investors have come forward to be leaders of the group. You should contact your group leaders for advice and for collective action.
Please give your full support to your group leaders.
6. Tan Kin Lian’s Blog
Please refer to my blog for the appropriate information and the latest update:
www.tankinlian.blogspot.com.
If you are not able to access the blog, ask your family member or friend to help you.
During this time, I am very busy. Please avoid asking me to spend time on individual matters, as I do not have the time to attend to it.
Tan Kin Lian
Friday, October 31, 2008
Use your real name
Please use your real name when you post your comments in this forum. You can give your name as the last sentence of the comment.
Tan Kin Lian
Tan Kin Lian
Educate the public about the structured products
Hi Mr Tan,
I am a HN2 investor and had attended the HN2 dialogue arranged by DBS. A lot of investors brought out their cases of how they were misled by the RM and bought the product. The DBS VP gave the standard answers in different forms by asking the individuals to sending in complaint and they will investigate case by case. Cases with evidence will be compensated with different amount.
Obviously this is "divide and conquer". Everyone complaint about their RM. Nobody complainted about DBS, the creator of the product. As a whole, this dialogue is just a SHOW put up by DBS. I think the VP is very happy that the focus is on the RMs and not DBS. I am very angry and disappointed.
I have brought out the question of whether it is a leverage product and whether it is a suitable product for general public. But no answer from him.
I feel that not many of the investors have realized that this is the DBS fault of creating such a toxic product and well packaged to be sold to investors who do not have much knowledge in the derivatives. (In fact even the university lecturer in Business got trapped.) It is regardless of whether you are educated or not, above age 62 or not, speaking only Chinese or not!
I have a suggestion here that shall we revealed to the public via media WHAT HN5 AND HN2 ARE. Show them what an expert had analyzed both in the technical and layman terms. Only in this way that we can make everyone understand how toxic the products are. Only in this way that we can tell those people who are un-empathized, and obviously not directly involved to shut their mouth.
We must not only be united within us, we must reveal everything to all Singaporeans and get all Singaporeans who have conscience to be united and don't get bullied by such an entrusted business giant.
Mr Tan, hope that you can advise us what we should do next so that DBS and MAS would face the problem and return to us, thousands of Singaporeans, a justice.
Many thanks again to what you have done for us!
LK
I am a HN2 investor and had attended the HN2 dialogue arranged by DBS. A lot of investors brought out their cases of how they were misled by the RM and bought the product. The DBS VP gave the standard answers in different forms by asking the individuals to sending in complaint and they will investigate case by case. Cases with evidence will be compensated with different amount.
Obviously this is "divide and conquer". Everyone complaint about their RM. Nobody complainted about DBS, the creator of the product. As a whole, this dialogue is just a SHOW put up by DBS. I think the VP is very happy that the focus is on the RMs and not DBS. I am very angry and disappointed.
I have brought out the question of whether it is a leverage product and whether it is a suitable product for general public. But no answer from him.
I feel that not many of the investors have realized that this is the DBS fault of creating such a toxic product and well packaged to be sold to investors who do not have much knowledge in the derivatives. (In fact even the university lecturer in Business got trapped.) It is regardless of whether you are educated or not, above age 62 or not, speaking only Chinese or not!
I have a suggestion here that shall we revealed to the public via media WHAT HN5 AND HN2 ARE. Show them what an expert had analyzed both in the technical and layman terms. Only in this way that we can make everyone understand how toxic the products are. Only in this way that we can tell those people who are un-empathized, and obviously not directly involved to shut their mouth.
We must not only be united within us, we must reveal everything to all Singaporeans and get all Singaporeans who have conscience to be united and don't get bullied by such an entrusted business giant.
Mr Tan, hope that you can advise us what we should do next so that DBS and MAS would face the problem and return to us, thousands of Singaporeans, a justice.
Many thanks again to what you have done for us!
LK
Invest in transparent and fair products
I advocate straight forward products - equity, bond, currency, deposits - that are transparent and fair to consumers.
It is all right to take risk, such as investing in equity or foreign currency, provided that you get both the upside and downside of the investment.
Here are the methods to reduce risk:
> diversify, i.e. invest in a fund containing many investments
> invest for the long term, to average out the good and bad years
You can reduce the risk (through diversification and long term averaging) and get the higher return from equity or foreign currency.
I advise investors to avoid all types of structured products (e.g. capital guaranteed, credit linked notes, dual currency investments), as they are structured to hide high expenses and profit margins and give a poor return to the investor.
I also advise investors to avoid investing in most types of life insurance products (i.e. whole life, endowment, investment linked policies) for the same reasons (i.e. high charges, poor return to policyholders).
You should avoid all types of investment products (i.e. bank or insurance products) that are marketed to you by sales representatives, as they have high charges to pay the distributor and to make profit for the product creator.
It is all right to take risk, such as investing in equity or foreign currency, provided that you get both the upside and downside of the investment.
Here are the methods to reduce risk:
> diversify, i.e. invest in a fund containing many investments
> invest for the long term, to average out the good and bad years
You can reduce the risk (through diversification and long term averaging) and get the higher return from equity or foreign currency.
I advise investors to avoid all types of structured products (e.g. capital guaranteed, credit linked notes, dual currency investments), as they are structured to hide high expenses and profit margins and give a poor return to the investor.
I also advise investors to avoid investing in most types of life insurance products (i.e. whole life, endowment, investment linked policies) for the same reasons (i.e. high charges, poor return to policyholders).
You should avoid all types of investment products (i.e. bank or insurance products) that are marketed to you by sales representatives, as they have high charges to pay the distributor and to make profit for the product creator.
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