Complaints to FIDREC

If your claim for compensation has been rejected by the financial institution, you have to file a complaint with FIDREC within 6 months of the rejection letter. If you pass this deadline, FIDREC will not entertain your complaint.

It cost only $50 to get FIDREC to adjudicate your complaint. It is worth spending this money. If you need assistance to strengthen your case in preparing your complaint with FIDREC, someone (who is knowledgeable about this matter) is willing to do it for a modest fee. You can send your request to kinlian@gmail.com.

 

Asian culture

I am looking for a word that best describe the dress, musical instrument, cuisine, dance, sport of each Asian country. Please suggest suitable words. Example:

National costume
kimono, humbong, sarong,

Cuisine
bulgogi, sushi, dim sum, satay, prata,

Musical instruments
er hu, zitar

Singaporeans need to overcome negative traits

Read my article in The Online Citizen and the comments of other readers.

SCMP:Working behind the scenes for the good of all

Beijing is sparing no effort to help the Hong Kong government reduce the number of disgruntled Lehman Brothers minibonds holders likely to take to the streets on July 1. An informed source said Bank of China (Hong Kong), one of the major banks still at loggerheads with victims over compensation, had been asked to seek a settlement by the end of June. He said Beijing was in a position to sway BOCHK's decision.

The Standard:Banks sold minibonds even as Lehman sank

Sealed findings of a report into the sale of Lehman Brothers minibonds reveal that banks continued to push the ill-fated products and recommend them to vulnerable customers up to a month before the bank collapsed.

The deleted sections of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority report, embargoed since December, show 87 of 238 complaints that institutions continued to sell Lehman minibonds even as the bank's credit quality deteriorated during August and September last year.

It also cites 102 complaints that banks sold Lehman minibonds to vulnerable customers including the elderly and illiterate, 15 cases of customer risk appetite being incorrectly assessed due to computer system error and 34 of mistakes in documentation. The HKMA had agreed to give censored parts of the report only to a Legislative Council subcommittee probing the Lehman fiasco for closed-door discussion, but legislators insisted on revealing them to the public.

It had warned legislators not to reveal details of the censored material as it could be incorrect and lawmakers were bound to discuss the issue at yesterday's hearing, subcommittee chairman Raymond Ho Chung-tai said.

``The disclosure of the omitted part may have a negative impact on people taking civil action and the Securities and Futures Commission in negotiating with sellers of Lehman products,'' HKMA chief executive Joseph Yam Chi-kwong told legislators at his third hearing on the controversy.

``Any legal challenge due to the disclosure of the full report before investigations are completed is the last thing we want to see.''

Yam will attend another hearing on May 8 and the subcommittee has summoned his deputy Choi Yiu-kwan to appear on May 26.

The Hong Kong Association of Banks has expressed concern over the disclosure in a letter to the subcommittee, Ho added.

Yam said there was a rise in complaints related to structured product sales last year, and that although the HKMA recorded 178 cases between 2003 and 2008, only one institution was punished.

``We are not trying to harbor banks. We take the cases seriously and will not let [banks] go if misselling is confirmed,'' he said.

Survey: Financial advise

Financial advisers are required to make a financial needs analysis of their client and to have a suitable basis for giving their advice on implementing a financial plan?

How is this advise given? 

Many clients have approached me for advice, because they are confused with what the adviser told them. This is most unsatisfactory. The financial adviser earned $1,000 or more in commission and did not give a satisfactory explanation.  

I suggest that the advise should be given in simple language in a format that is understandable by the client.

I also suggest that a set of the documents supporting the advise should be given to the client. The client can give the advise to another person for a second opinion. This will ensure that the quality of the advice given by the first adviser is satisfactory and conforms with some best good practice standard.

At present, the financial adviser is required to lodge their advice to the advisory firm and a supervisor is required to audit the advice. As the supervisor works for the same firm, this does not give sufficient protection to the consumer on the quality of advice and the suitability of the products.

What are your views on this matter? Particpate in this survey.

A considerate person

I visited Nanyang Junior College to give a talk to the students. After arriving at the school, I found several empty Visitors parking lots next to the main entrance. The remaining lots, presumably used by the teachers, were all occupied.

It is so easy to find these parking lots. This is a wonderful welcome to any visitor to the school. 

The principal was considerate in giving priority to the visitors. He also made sure that there were sufficient lots reserved for the visitors. 

I have visited many other places where all the parking lots were occupied by the staff. Some of the empty lots were "reserved for the staff". These places do not consider the visitors or customers to be important, and were accorded low priority.

I hope that more people in Singapore can be considerate, like the principal of Nanyang Junior College.

Tan Kin Lian