Lehman Brothers (LEH)

Re: Lehman LEH

Postby kennynah » Mon Sep 22, 2008 8:48 pm

LEH is dead....doesnt matter anymore to shareholders if it was bought for a gazillion dollars now...game over.
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Lehman LEH

Postby ishak » Mon Sep 22, 2008 8:55 pm

Banks gave poor advice
Reuters, 22 Sep 2008

ASIAN retail investors who bought structured products linked to the collapsed USinvestment bank Lehman Brothers are complaining about poor advice from banks and have urged authorities to save them from losses.

Investors in Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia have over the past week been outraged that the bond-like products they purchased were actually complex derivatives and they stood to lose most or all of what they had invested.

The products include Lehman-linked minibonds sold in Hong Kong and Singapore, many of which offered modest returns of between 4 and 6 per cent, and DBS Group's High Notes 5 series, which offered around 5 per cent and were linked to eight securities including Lehman bonds.

After staging a protest on Sunday, dozens of aggrieved retail investors turned up at the headquarters of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority on Monday morning to seek help from authorities, complaining that banks and financial advisers did not do enough to warn them of the risks.

Mr Tan Kin Lian, the retired chief executive of Singapore insurance firm NTUC Income, who advises investors through his blog, said many investors bought such products believing these instruments were relatively safe.

'People who would not take the risk of buying shares have been asked to buy these structured products,' he said.

He also said authorities should examine the design of such products, which were often 'grossly unfair' to investors in terms the risks and rewards.

'The odds are not balanced. You have a chance of losing $1 million, but you won't win $1 million. The structure would take away most of the profits and give you very little,' said Mr Tan.


COMPENSATION

Singapore investor Archie Ong, who stands to lose the bulk of his investment in DBS' High Notes, hopes authorities would force banks to compensate investors who thought they had bought low-risk products that paid steady dividends.

'They had been marketed as a low-risk alternative to equities which are much higher risk,' he said.

A Singapore blogger, who called himself Falcon, said 'why would one take such a high risk for the potential of earning 5 per cent? Such high risks of losing everything should give a potential return of more than 100 per cent.'

DBS spokeswoman Karen Ngui said, however, that investors in its structured notes had been adequately advised of the risks. 'It's stated clearly in the prospectus and application forms and the pricing statement as well.'

DBS needed about 30 days to unwind its structured notes before it could determine the actual losses suffered by investors, she added.

Lehman declined to comment.

The failed investments in structured products linked to Lehman has also affected investors in Indonesia who had bought such instruments from Citigroup, according to a report in the Jakarta Post on Monday.

Citigroup did not respond when asked to comment on the report.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore did not immediately respond to queries from Reuters, while Hong Kong officials met with angry investors but did not pledge specific action.

'We hope that through such talks we can better understand the situation and try to find a resolution,' Financial Secretary John Tsang told reporters.
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Lehman LEH

Postby ishak » Wed Sep 24, 2008 11:32 pm

Hong Kong regulator to probe selling of Lehman-backed bonds
AFP, 24 September 2008

Hong Kong's securities watchdog said Wednesday it had launched an investigation into the possible mis-selling of complex financial products backed by collapsed US bank Lehman Brothers.

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) said it would examine whether the products had been mis-sold to retail investors, who have complained the full risks of the instruments were not fully explained.

"Having conducted several meetings with mini-bond investors in the last few days to hear their grievances, we have decided to conduct formal investigations into allegations of mis-selling by certain licensed intermediaries," the SFC's chief executive Martin Wheatley said in a statement.

The investigation will look at three institutions who sold Lehman-licensed mini-bonds, which are based on derivatives linked to major firms' stocks but are worthless if the guarantor goes bankrupt.

Investors who had bought 12.7 billion Hong Kong dollars (1.63 billion US) of the products had Tuesday threatened to sue up to 21 institutions who had sold them, lawmaker Albert Ho told AFP.

Ho said many of the bond holders were retired and had put all their savings into the investment because they trusted their banks.

Lehman Brothers, one of Wall Street's most established banks, collapsed last week, sparking turmoil on financial markets across the world.

Demonstration works in HK.
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Re: Lehman LEH

Postby kennynah » Wed Sep 24, 2008 11:42 pm

ishak wrote:Banks gave poor advice
Reuters, 22 Sep 2008

ASIAN retail investors who bought structured products linked to the collapsed USinvestment bank Lehman Brothers are complaining about poor advice from banks and have urged authorities to save them from losses....
.........


no need look so far...many of our banks have complex FX plans for retail investors...and some are so damn complicated, the whole idea is to simply sucker retail investors into paying them fees from any profits...

but i always think....those who let others think for them, pay the price...it's just like dat.
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Re: Lehman LEH

Postby ishak » Wed Sep 24, 2008 11:48 pm

Agree, normal retail investors really have no chance to invest into complex vehicles by themselves. Thing is when they make money, everything is nice and rosey; when they lose money, all hell break loose.
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Re: Lehman LEH

Postby fclim » Thu Sep 25, 2008 9:44 am

Ooops..... maybe the banks will reach their NAV soon... :D

have fun,
fc

=========================================================

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/378145/1/.html
Online petition for investors who bought Lehman-linked structured products
By Irene Chan, 938LIVE | Posted: 24 September 2008 2129 hrs

SINGAPORE: An online petition for investors here who have bought structured products linked to the collapsed US investment bank Lehman Brothers is gaining momentum.

The petition, started on Tuesday by former chief executive of Singapore insurance firm NTUC Income, Tan Kin Lian, aims to bring together those affected to discuss how to take collective action to recover their losses.

As of Wednesday evening, more than 350 people have signed up.

Many frustrated retail investors here have expressed outrage in online forums that products such as the Lehman Brothers Minibonds and DBS Group's High Notes 5 series were actually complex derivatives.

A number of people who bought these products said they felt their financial advisers had misrepresented the products as they were marketed as low-risk and suitable for conservative investors.

While the complexity of the products may have been explained in the prospectus and pricing statement, Mr Tan said many investors were clearly not properly informed of the potential risks of the products.

"These products are clearly unsuitable. Financial institutions should not offer these to the public. These are very dangerous, high-risk products. All the more, their officers actually sold it as quite safe. Now, this is clearly, in my view, a misrepresentation."

Mr Tan said under the Financial Advisers Act, an adviser who recommends a product must make sure that it is suitable for the investor.

Mr Tan hopes the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will on behalf of the investors, bring this matter to court.

"If the authority takes action, they should also look into, not just the distributor, but the originator, the financial institution that created the product, whether they have done their duty to design a reasonable product or a product that's misleading, whether they have broken some laws or not," he said.

Separately, a group of Lehman MiniBond investors here plans to meet on Wednesday to sign and submit a petition to MAS and the financial institutions involved, to seek help in recovering their investments.

On its part, MAS has urged banks and finance companies to make it a priority to deal with worried investors holding products linked to Lehman Brothers.

It added investors who consider that they were mis-sold a product or that a product was misrepresented to them should first contact the financial institution they dealt with.

DBS, meanwhile, says it has devoted additional resources to deal with customer concerns and that it is treating this matter with priority and importance.

Meanwhile, the Financial Industry Disputes Resolution Centre here says it is still too early for it to comment about the volume of cases it has received in light of the recent developments on Wall Street.

But it says it understands the anxiety felt by affected consumers and stands ready and prepared to do everything it can to help consumers with their disputes through its resolution processes. - 938LIVE
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Re: Lehman LEH

Postby fclim » Thu Sep 25, 2008 9:48 am

more updates...

=======================================================

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/378166/1/.html

Neutral parties to oversee complaints on Lehman-linked products
By Nicholas Fang, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 24 September 2008 2255 hrs

SINGAPORE : More action is being taken to help investors in Singapore who have bought financial products linked to failed US investment bank Lehman Brothers.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Wednesday said that HSBC and DBS will appoint independent parties to oversee complaint-handling processes and investigations within the week.

The latest move follows complaints by investors who said they were misled into buying products such as Lehman Minibonds, DBS High Notes 5 and Merrill Lynch Jubilee series 3 LinkEarner notes.

It is understood that RBS, Maybank and Hong Leong Finance have also sold such products.

Earlier on Wednesday, a group of investors who bought the Lehman Minibonds were reported to have held a meeting to discuss collective action.

The central bank said it is up to banks to choose and appoint the independent parties, which could be anyone, including auditors or judges.

But MAS will provide the scope of investigations for the independent parties.

The appointment of independent parties is intended to assure investors that their complaints will be heard, documented and reviewed fairly and swiftly.

MAS also said it will work with the Financial Industry Disputes Resolution Centre to fast track the procedures for investors to seek mediation and adjudication.

MAS will use the outcome of these processes to evaluate existing regulations. Authorities will take action if there have been any breaches of laws or regulations. - CNA/ms
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Re: Lehman LEH

Postby financecaptain » Thu Sep 25, 2008 10:07 am

Not only these instruments are complex derivatives which the bank employees who sold them may not even undertand the risk themselves; They are essentially structured in a way that investors actually sell (underwrite) volatilities away at maybe lower than market price (this part needs to be verified or else how would the arranger of the issue pay such attractive distribution commissions ?). This means if all things are normal you get your yields and at extremely ends of volatility you are penalised. Even reading the fine prints may not help either ......

MAS should seriously regulate the sale of such products if they are sold to the men on the main street (not wall street). Many of them have blind faith in our local banks and I really feel sorry that some of them actually lose their life savings on these products ........
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Re: Lehman LEH

Postby -dol- » Thu Sep 25, 2008 10:49 am

MAS' reputation (whether justifiable or not) with the average Singaporean is quite good - and they count on MAS to protect them. In HK, they are already talking about sueing the HKMA.

I believe there are many average Singaporean who are lambs for the slaughter. I have told people to avoid structured products because of their complicated structures and poor risk-reward potential, but they can somehow be persuaded eventually to buy such products by sales promoters. Some are incapable of protecting themselves!
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Disclaimer: This is not investment advice! Please do your own research and due diligence.
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Re: Lehman LEH

Postby kennynah » Thu Sep 25, 2008 1:27 pm

sales promoters wear short skirts and sexy heels... with intoxicating perfume to musk the complex derivatives ... lucky i never go meet them, else oso gong gong buy from them...hahaha...
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