DBS bank HK made a blunder

last SG · 2004-10-06T18:35:37+00:00

that's what will be the case when you bring your business elsewhere as you are competing with the locals & eat part of their pie in their house. Be pepar...

oldbreadstinks SG

and who’s the scrape goat this time?

paperchicken SG

Singapore govt ? Laughing

Xprobe SG

Aiya, whats the big deal. Why DBS is there is that they need a vehicle to spearhead into China. Between this blunder and the main objective, it is nothing. Dont count on share price down or anything that has permanent damage.

sbst275 SG

Best sia.... Who is that stupid fool that did that? Evil or Very Mad

paperchicken SG

Latest News | Updated Oct 6, 12.15 pm (Singapore time)

DBS to repay customers in HK safe boxes fiasco

HONG KONG - Embarrassed bosses at Singapore-based DBS Bank (Hong Kong) say they will repay customers for their losses after 83 safe boxes from a bank branch filled with valuables were removed on Saturday by a contractor during renovations, then dumped and crushed as scrap metal.

Workers scrambled to recover cash, crucial documents and smashed jewellery from the scrap heap, but DBS said it's too early to say what its liabilities will be. Local media have predicted it will come to millions of dollars.

'It's a very unfortunate and regrettable incident,' DBS spokesman Catherine Ong said on Wednesday.

She acknowledged that the bank might face difficulties in ascertaining exactly what had been inside the boxes.

'Of course we don't want to invite any fraudulent claims,' she told The Associated Press by telephone. 'If we feel some claims are dodgy, we will ask a lot of questions.'

The bank believes the mix-up was the result of human error, with no foul play suspected, she said. But after the bank resolves matters with customers it plans a full internal investigation into what went wrong. She said it was too early to say if anyone would be fired.

The 83 boxes were removed, along with 837 empty ones, as the bank was expanding the size of a local branch and replacing older, small safe boxes with new, larger ones. -- AP

paperchicken SG

To Goh Meng Seng time the news is updated is there for you to see. Dun complain newspaper never report again.

goh meng seng SG

Thanks, Paperchicken, but I am interested to know whether it becomes the "Breaking News"; the Main Headlines.

Goh Meng Seng

The Barracuda SG

The Straits Times is a boardsheet not a tabloid. If you are interested in sensational news go read the New Paper.

SilverKris SG

Thanks, Paperchicken, but I am interested to know whether it becomes the "Breaking News"; the Main Headlines.

Goh Meng Seng

i not journalist, but "breaking news" in sg unlikely. this news:
-is old news for newspapers since it is a few days old. has been reported so frequently by local newspapers here and abroad...no new news value
-has no global or national importance (except bank will suffer reputation loss+ must compensate)...purely a business piece of news. not like some terrorist attack killing many people
-occurred in HK and affected only 83 customers there, out of thousands of customers.....no singaporean involved so far so no local human interest
-no one died, no one became bankrupt, no one become homeless...no drama

beside hor i think while it is true the head office here must bear ultimate responsibility and compensate as they have offered, it is really the HK managers there looking after things rite + the contractors doing renovation there who made mistake rite

goh meng seng SG

Dear Barracuda,

I always suspect that you are from ST. Wink Only ST reporters could possibly draw out past ST reports that fast. Wink

Back to your assertions. That's not true, Barracuda. Business Time put it up as the Headline, Top breaking news. Wink You mean to say that Business Time is a tabloid too? Wink (They have put this news as their main headline in their website).

Almost all main newspapers in HK put it up as headline/breaking news. You mean to say that all HK newspapers are tabloid?

It is of great public interests to start with. Whether we like it or not, this incident is going to affect DBS reputation in HK. In HK history, this is the first of its kind blunder which affects badly on commercial confidence on the level of safeness on the safe boxes.

Goh Meng Seng

The Barracuda SG

The Strait Times Interactive has a tonnes of information and articles which are easily available to the public. Anyone who has been keeping up with the news and following the issues would be able to draw up the articles quickly.

The DBS blunder appeared in Business Times business times because it is a company listed in the stock exchange and BT is as the name suggest, a business news paper. The article appeared in the business section of the Straits Times as well but I do not think it warrant a prominent front-page treatment that you suggest.

The intense coverage given by the HongKong media seem to imply an "us versus them" mentality, saying " Look this is a Singapore bank and its has made a blunder. " I believe the take over of Dao Heng by DBS is still fresh in the minds of the Hong Kong public.

SilverKris SG

always suspect that you are from ST. Only ST reporters could possibly draw out past ST reports that fast.

Back to your assertions. That's not true, Barracuda. Business Time put it up as the Headline, Top breaking news. You mean to say that Business Time is a tabloid too? (They have put this news as their main headline in their website).

Almost all main newspapers in HK put it up as headline/breaking news. You mean to say that all HK newspapers are tabloid?

It is of great public interests to start with. Whether we like it or not, this incident is going to affect DBS reputation in HK. In HK history, this is the first of its kind blunder which affects badly on commercial confidence on the level of safeness on the safe boxes.

Goh Meng Seng

aiyah..whether he works for ST a not, not important. now all newspapers got search engine..plus got google..anyone can get news fast in this age.

like i said, it is business news, so BT put up as headline that day..but not subsequent day since it is already old news.

headline in HK newspapers because it affects HK people..it happen in HK...has local human interest there...very drama..also affect business there, also first time such thing happen there......so of course all HK papers give it top attention. but HK is HK, and SG is SG...so of course interest different......in HK it is headline news since it concerns them...in SG it is just business news.
so something like nicoll highway collapse top news in SG, but maybe page 58 in UK newspapers. but sensational news with global importance like al-quada attack sure headline news worldwide.

of course the incident will affect dbs reputation...that's commonsense. but beyond compensating and checking the whole dbs security procedure...what can be done really. hopefully bank will be mroe careful, and can win customers trust back. but probably not so easy in the beginning.

sayso SG

You know something ironic? The branch was undergoing renovation and on the wooden plank surrounding the bank was displayed, "Experience Something New". I think the HKers did experience a new experience through this. Razz

paperchicken SG

Really got reporter here ? Very Happy

Can pick my thread and published in newspaper or not ? Mr. Green

PatrickLTH SG

Crying or Very sad I think this is the first time in history that a bank had disposed of the active safe deposit boxes as junk.

And it has to be DBS Bank, substantially owned by Temasek (owned by Singapore Government).

I think his will bring disrepute to DBS Bank, to Temasek and indirectly to Singapore Government.

I think at the end of the day, this can be found to be caused by Human Error, lack of procedure (SOP), lack of communication, or lost of communication down the line (chain of command).

Could the underlying problem be the general staff morale at the Bank Branch? Just wondering how the morale of the staff is further affected by this incident.

This is the type of publicity that we do not want. Crying or Very sad

EricDraven SG

Frank Wong should be made partly responsible right? Afterall, he is the Chairman of DBS Bank (Hong Kong) and the highest earning guy in DBS last year, higher than Jackson Tai.

I think this is a major stumble in DBS's foray into Greater China. What a stupid mistake. Customer trust in HK is eroded, and we got into unneccessary trouble with the regulators.

I guess Mr Jackson Tai may not be in the best mood for this Saturday's career seminar.

Setback, setback... Rolling Eyes

fymk SG

DBS = don't be stupid

or

DBS = deliberate bull sh.it

or

DBS = Do be stupid

last time under local rule....not so much problems
now under foreign talent rule........well let's blame the foreign talents Smile

PatrickLTH SG

Foreign Talents = Low Morale

paperchicken SG

who is responsible for the fault ? The hongkong employees in DBS ? This dun happen in DBS Singapore branches wat. Rolling Eyes

bluesky296 SG

the fact is it belongs to DBS Group & therefore DBS Singapore (owners/HQ) cannot relinquish the full resposibility. This is true vice versa, meaning that DBS Singapore will also gain credit if DBS Hong Kong is performing very well. It has adverse implications as it cast doubts on consumer confidence on the bank. Take it as a setback, admit the mistake, disclose the reasons for the blunder & implement ways to tighten the procedures so that consumer confidence can be won over quickly, before we see the competitors start taking advantage of the situation. Time is essence.

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