1. Lodge your complaint
The first step is to lodge your complaint with the financial
institution that sold the product to you.
Be honest. In your report, you should state honestly what you were
told and what you were led to believe, when you decided to invest
in the product. Many investors were assured that the structured
product is “safe” and “low risk” and is a good alternative to
“fixed deposit”. If this is the case, you can state it
honestly.
Do not worry that you have signed forms given to you by the sales
representative (or relationship manager). If you were not told
about the content of the form and did not get a clear explanation
on what the statements meant, you can state it in your
report.
The most important point is to state how you were misled, and what
you were told by the sales representative.
I have printed the forms for you to collect the relevant
information to complete your complaint. You can get the assistance
of the volunteers, if you are not clear about the type of
information that is needed.
Read this advice:
http://tankinlian.blogspot.com/2008/10/general-advice-to-investors-of.html
2. “Non-Vulnerable” Investor
Many investors were unsure about how they will be treated, as the
fall outside of the “vulnerable” group. So far, MAS and the
financial institutions have not stated how these investor will be
treated.
Let us take it one step at a time. You should lodge your complaint
and attend the interview arranged by the financial institution. You
can state honestly what is contained in your statement that you
lodged with the financial institution.
If you do not wish to attend alone, you can bring a family member,
friend or fellow investor to accompany you.
3. Dispute Resolution Center
If you are not able to get a satisfactory compensation from the
financial institution, you can bring you case to Financial Industry
Dispute Resolution Center, FiDREC (www.fidrec.com.sg). You pay a fee
of $50.
FiDREC will form a panel to consider your complaint. FiDREC has the
authority to pass a judgment that is binding on the financial
institution. This decision is NOT binding on the consumer. The
consumer still has the right to take the case to court.
At present, FiDREC has the authority to decide on claims up to
$50,000. It can hear larger cases, subject to agreement of the
financial institution.
4. Open Forum with Financial Institution
I suggest that investors should get together, according to the
financial institution that sold the product to you, to request the
financial institution to hold an open forum with the investors to
discuss the following:
a) How the investors were misled by the information given by the
sales representatives
b) How the financial institution can compensate the investors for
their loss, caused by the bad advice and mis-information.
5. Petition #4
There are a potential of 10,000 cases to be handled. So far, just a
handful of cases under the “vulnerable group” have been handled. It
will take a long time for these 10,000 cases to be resolved, using
the “case by case” approach. Many of those affected have still not
lodged their complaint.
I will be organizing another Petition #4 addressed to the chairman
of MAS. This is to ask MAS to help find a collective solution to
the mis-selling by the financial institutions. A collective
approach will reduce the stress on the individual investors in
making the complaint and will ensure that fair compensation is
given to all the affected investors, according to the category that
they fall under.
6. Legal action
Some investors wish to take collective legal action. I like them to
be aware that it can be costly and risky to take this action. It
should be considered only as a last resort.
Before the investors decide to take this action, they should be
aware about the cost and the chance of winning the case. They must
also agree on the approach. They may be able to get different
estimates of the cost from other lawyers.
http://tankinlian.blogspot.com/2008/10/speakers