Speaker Corner, 13 Dec 2008 Speech by TKL

Speech by Tan Kin Lian

1. Queens Counsel opinion
I have briefed a senior lawyer in Singapore about the credit linked notes. He will be giving a brief to a Queens Counsel in London. We will wait for the QC opinion, expected in January.

2. Briefing of investors – Lawyer
One lawyer has received more than 250 warrants to act. He will be giving a briefing to the investors in January 2009. He hopes to be able to get additional investors to join the class action on the credit linked notes (except the High Notes).

3. Investors of High Notes
These investors have held several meetings. This group is well organised and will be taking separate action. They have a separate website.

4. Investors of Minibonds
These investors are also setting up a separate website and collecting data on their investors. They also plan to have a briefing of their investors in January 2009.

5. Legal action
By end of January 2009, it will be clearer to the investors on the legal action that can be taken. In the meantime, investors can read my blog for updates.
www.tankinlian.blogspot.com

6. Legal action in USA
Several investors have read news report about taking class action in the USA against the financial institutions, similar to what is being done in Hong Kong. I have consulted a Singapore lawyer on this matter. Their advice is that this approach is not applicable to us. We are monitoring the situation.

7. Dual currency investments
Be careful about dual currency investments. Some investors have lost a lot of money on this product. The bad feature is that your gain is capped and your loss is unlimited. If you are leveraged, you can loss your entire capital. I will give some examples.

8. Consumer association for financial services.
Some people have asked me to set up a consumer association for financial services. I have formed a pro-tem committee to look into this matter. The aims are to educate consumers and help them to obtain financial products that give good value to consumers. More details can be found in my blog, www.tankinlian.blogspot.com. A separate website will be set up soon.

9. Guide on making a complaint
I have distributed a leaflet giving information on the contact persons and websites that guide you to make a complaint on the credit linked notes.

Tan Kin Lian