Saturday, October 18, 2008

Today: Man with a Mission

.........How else would you describe a man who is “impatient, easily annoyed and often angry” — according to a former employee — but always having a heart for the man-on-the-street?

“It is completely consistent with his conduct at NTUC Income when he often commented publicly on various matters. I can’t see him keep quiet about something he feels is wrong and affects ordinary people,” said Mr Stanley Jeremiah, who was NTUC Income’s general manager of life and health insurance department between January and August 2006.

Mr Dharmendra Yadav, who was a corporate counsel at the insurance cooperative, added: “When I joined NTUC Income, my mentor told me, ‘Tan Kin Lian is one person who will stand up for what he thinks is right. And he is the one person who will let you do the same’.”

http://www.todayonline.com/articles/282198.asp
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mr Tan
I want to emphasis that the MAS should not only focuss on the Lehman products. The basic question is "was the due suitability process followed?"
How can a 64 year old woman, whose only money comes from insurance policy (she is not retired, because she never have a job, with zero eduction, asked to buy all kinds of structured products including unit trusts, with payout linked to Nasdaq, sgx etc .. complicated formula.
When I spoke to this lady, all she know was that she bought the products from DBS and UOB and guaranteed by DBS and UOB.. of course, this was a wrong fact .. which a PFC got wrong (I spoke to the PFC about a Lyxor fund, and I asked who guaranteed? she answered UOB -- of course she was wrong. sho how can they be telling right information to the investors?
I am trying to see uob mgt, but guess what none would venture forward!
If you are willing to take on this case, (this lady is one of the many), I am prepared to stand by my note to you, and provide my details to you, including emails to the DBS and UOB mgt).

There is little due suitability process -- full stop;, and the banks must be find guilty and pay compensation in full.

October 18, 2008 1:04 PM
Anonymous said...

Singapore must look at the bigger picture. $600 million is an amount all these banks can well afford to lose, especially after milking the Singapore consumers with low deposit rates and high bank charges, and all sorts of transaction fees during the nation's meteoric economic expansion. In fact, I have all along suspected the banks deliberately maintain a low deposit interest rate in order to motivate/lure these gullible souls to venture into high risk structured deposits, structured products, equity linked notes, currency bets and unit trusts. The choice of words used, in this instance, the Mini-bonds, or is it "Mini-bombs" ?, makes me wonder if this is an elaborate scheme to milk the innocent and ignorant.

Personally, I am of the opinion that both the banks and the MAS are guilty of failure to exercise due diligence in protecting customers' interest, thereby doing a great disservice to the affected victims of the Great American Ponzi Scheme. The notion "buyer beware", as put forward in a letter by Steve K Ngo in Today newspaper (afternoon edition) Voices Page 20 on Tuesday 14-October-2008 does not hold water. Firstly, he may be a substantial share holder of the banks, much like our sovereign wealth funds GIC and Temasek Holdings (Can anybody verify if there are any conflict of interests here?). Secondly, this concept is primitive, and does not provide the aggrieved consumers the right for redress. Furthermore, it does not encourage corporate and social responsibility in Singapore, and this is what we do not want to see happening in our country.

Our national pledge have these words, " ... based on justice and equality ... ", it is about time we practise what we have preached, Singaporeans. Besides, we are a compassionate people after all, as evident from our past donations to the Indian Ocean tsunami tragedy, China earthquake victims, Myanmar cyclone natural disaster victims etc.

The hallmarks of any great bank include credibility and trust. Where the western banks have failed, including the likes of AIG, Citigroup, UBS, Credit Suisse and Societe Generale; we shall prevail and extend our market share by putting our customers' interest FIRST.


It is now payback time. The Government must now yield a heavy hand and severely punish the sinners in this financial debacle. It must get the banks to repay 100 percent of the customer's loss, and not a cent less. It must make the banks see blood and experience maximum pain and agony. By doing so, it would make the banks do serious business the next time round. They would not dare play the field and test the limits of our tolerance towards shady financial transactions.


Singapore is different. It would show the world it is ready to be the new leader in the global financial services arena. It would outclass Hongkong and Tokyo to be the financial capital of Asia. Along the way, the Government can also add a few more votes into its ballot box for the coming general elections.

By RTA,

October 19, 2008 5:54 PM

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