Take collective legal action now?

Dear Kin Lian

I am writing this with a heavy heart because whilst I and my family may have escaped the misselling by banks of products I know of friends who have been less fortunate.

Firstly I see the attempts at the banks at mediation and the FRC as a dead end road designed primarily to absolve them of legal blame , responsibility and the consequences which it entails. The fact that the mediators are paid by the banks itself speaks volumes about their true intent. It is a blatant attempt at damage control and whilst a small percentage of investors might be ABLE to prove misselling the majority I feel will be unable. It is unclear to me whether if one choses the FRC route does that close the legal route to the courts ? Is arbitration and the solution reached is mandatory and binding.

1. With the mediation route, investors are unable to gain full disclosure and it will be the word of the individual investor versus the word of the management of the banks and the structures and regulations they will claim they have put in place to protect the investor. The cases will be viewed on an individual basis and each investor will thus be easier to pick of on their own

2. A collective legal case if put forth will allow lawyers as in the case of TT Durai to seek and build a case using the full weight of internal documents and emails from the banks with regards to the products they sold and the extent of knowledge they had when they sold it.

This is I believe the strongest case possible for a class action suit as all other roads are in my view an attempt at damage control and a shifting of blame to the individual investor. I hope you will highlight this to your readers.

MY

REPLY

So far, my strategy is to get MAS to act. It is their job. I will ask the investors to consider legal action only after MAS has failed to do "what is right" for the retail investors.

The decision of FiDREC is binding on the financial institution, but is not binding on the retail investor. If the retail investor does not accept the decision of FiDREC, they still have the right to take the legal action at a later date.