Lehman Minibond impact on Banks

There will be impact on banks, if banks were to compensate buyers of Minibond. Do take this consideration into account when bargain hunting for banks........Nicholas Tan

"The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on Friday it is probing allegations of misconduct in the sale of financial products linked to collapsed US investment bank Lehman Brothers and other institutions. The country's central bank will focus on cases of mis-selling products to "vulnerable" customers, meaning the elderly and those who are not well-educated, MAS managing director Heng Swee Keat told a news conference.

MAS does not normally comment on dealings with individual institutions, he said in a statement issued at the news conference. "However, given public interest in this matter, MAS confirms that we have been conducting formal inquiries into allegation of breaches of law, inadequate internal controls by the FIs (financial institutions) or poor sales practices by their representatives." MAS would not elaborate on its probe but said it will announce "any actions" when inquiries are complete. Heng said MAS, the de facto central bank, has told financial institutions to give priority to cases involving vulnerable investors and not to take an "overly legalistic approach to mis-selling in dealing" with them. In cases where there is sufficient evidence that the product was mis-sold, the financial institution should take responsibility, Heng said.

MAS has said that about 10,000 people in Singapore invested in products linked to Lehman Brothers and other institutions hit by a crisis in the US financial heartland of Wall Street.

Many of the Singapore investors, a large portion of them retirees who stand to lose their life savings, have said they were told they were buying into a product with low risk. A 62-year-old businessman who could lose S$200,000 in Lehman Brothers-linked minibonds, told AFP he was offered the product even though he said he was not a risk-taker. "I even signed a survey form on my profile which said very clearly that I am not a high-risk gambler, but still they offered me the product," he said.

Hong Kong banks on Friday agreed to buy back minibonds linked to Lehman Brothers at market value, an industry spokesman said. The extraordinary move came as regulators in the southern Chinese financial hub said they had referred 24 cases of possible mis-selling of the investment products to the Securities and Futures Commission."

Sources of info : http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/print/383557/1/.html