Protecting consumers

This article is published in The Online Citizen.

Jobs in service industry

Many department stores in Jakarta employ many sales assistants. They have the time to provide customer service. The sales assistants earn a minimum wage (about USD 100 per month), but this is sufficient to meet the cost of living. It creates many jobs for the young people.

I hope that our service sectors in Singapore take the same approach and employ more people to improve customer service. During the current economic downturn, many people (young and older) will be happy to have a job, even if the wages are low.  Being employed is better than being unemployoed, and remaining idle, at home.

They will learn the experience of customer service, which will be useful for the future quality of life in Singapore.

As many businesses are watching their cash flow, perhaps some government funding can be given for these customer service jobs?

Tan Kin Lian

SCMP:Eightfold rise in funding to investigate bank gripe

The Monetary Authority will spend HK$138 million this year to handle complaints against banking services - an eightfold increase on last year, before US investment bank Lehman Brothers went bankrupt.

It spent HK$17 million in this area last year. In the new plan, most of the money, some HK$84 million, will be used to pay for extra staff to handle complaints.

The funding was detailed in the authority's annual report published yesterday - which also revealed that Joseph Yam Chi-kwong, its chief executive, enjoyed a pay rise of 15.44 per cent last year, pocketing HK$11.93 million.

Mr Yam, one of the best paid central bankers in the world, saw his fixed pay rise 8.38 per cent to HK$7.783 million, while his performance-linked variable pay increased 15.87 per cent to HK$3.176 million. He also received other benefits.

The authority's three deputy chief executives averaged HK$7.04 million, and the 13 executive directors averaged HK$4.20 million.

Democratic Party lawmaker Kam Nai-wai said he was unhappy at Mr Yam's salary increase. He said that as the authority unveiled in January a full-year investment loss of HK$74.9 billion for the Exchange Fund, he could not find a reason why Mr Yam could enjoy such a large pay rise.

Mr Kam said the eightfold increase in spending to handle complaints against banking services was a reflection of underspending and understaffing in the authority's investigation efforts before the Lehman Brothers debacle.

Civic Party lawmaker Ronny Tong Ka-wah said Mr Yam's pay rise was incomprehensible. He questioned how HK$138 million would be spent as he had not seen any obvious results from the investigative work already done by the authority into matters relating to Lehmans Brothers.

Hong Kong investors lost billions on minibonds guaranteed by Lehman Brothers. They have urged Mr Yam to give up his bonuses and cut his pay for the Exchange Fund losses and what they said was poor regulation of banks that had dishonestly selling some financial products.

The authority said on March 27 it would freeze the salaries of Mr Yam and about 600 employees this year. Last year it reduced their variable pay - similar to a bonus - by 30 per cent. This cut the bonus to the equivalent of two months' pay on average, down from 2.9 months in 2007.

The city's de facto central bank budgeted staff costs of HK$656 million for the year, a rise of 3.96 per cent, making up 78.5 per cent of the total administrative expenditure budget of HK$836 million. In the report, Mr Yam described the global meltdown as "some of the most dramatic events in living memory". He said local banks were not insulated from the crisis, with profitability deteriorating and cost-to-income ratios rising.

Excellent facilities at Changi Airport

I am now using the Laptap Access point outside of my departure gate at Changi Airport. The facilities are excellent. It is more convenient to me than the DBS Asia Treasures Lounge which I used previously, and is located in a different terminal. If I do not have a laptop, I can use the free internet terminals which is also available here. 

 

DBS Asia Treasures Lounge

I have been a customer of DBS for more than 30 years. A few years ago, they offered me the membership of the Asia Treasures lounge in Changi Airport. I did not use the facilities initially.

Last two years, I used the facilities regularly for my trips to Jakarta. Recently, DBS decided not to renew my membership on its expiry. Their explanation was that my asset under management fell below $1 million.

I do not recall have met this $1 million mark when the membership was first offered to me. DBS must have raised the requirement for people who used the facilities regularly. So, current profit is more important than past relationship. This is the new value system in Singapore.

I have learned to accept the new world, but I do wish for the old world where long term relationship is treasured.

Tan Kin Lian

Contingency fee system

I discussed with a law professor in a local university. Is it good for Singapore to adopt a contingency fee system for legal practice?

We came to the conclusion that it is useful under certain circumstances and for the following reasons:

(a) Where the litigant cannot afford the legal fees to take up a case against a large organisation

(b) Where the lawyer is in a better position to judge the merit of the case and should take the risk of the outcome.

If more cases are tried in court, it will lead to a better understanding of the law. This will be good for the society.

Tan Kin Lian

The Standard:Minibond anger directed at Donald Tsang

About 850 angry Lehman Brothers minibond investors yesterday called for Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen to step down for failing to help them.

The Alliance of Lehman Brothers Victims claimed 3,000 protesters, wearing red headbands bearing the Chinese character for angry, joined a march from Causeway Bay to the central government offices.

Among the group were some Singapore and Taiwan investors who also urged the Hong Kong government to handle the issue faster. The protesters vented their anger by hitting a drum, pasted with Tsang's photo, outside the government headquarters.

A Singapore investor said her government has resolved 70 percent of about 8,000 cases through judgment. "It seems the Singapore government is more reactive. It takes too long here [Hong Kong] and the compensation is too little," she said.

Alliance chairman Peter Chan Kwong-yue criticized the authorities for not carrying out their responsibilities and hit out at the Securities and Futures Commission for allowing banks to sell the minibonds, and police and the Department of Justice for not following up the complaints.

Chan was angry over Tsang's silence. "He has not showed concern to the investors since October. It is so disappointing," he said.

Democratic Party lawmaker Kam Nai-wai said he hopes Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah will explain the incident to the Legislative Council.

A government spokesman said it has requested the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Securities and Futures Commission to seriously handle the complaints.

"We note that two SFC-licensed minibond distributors have agreed with the SFC to make a voluntary offer to purchase from their eligible clients all outstanding Lehman Brothers minibonds at a price equal to the principal amount invested.

So far, there are about 6,000 cases in which voluntary settlements have been reached or are soon to be reached with the banks concerned."