The story is familiar isn’t it. You go to the bank just to deposit cash. You are brought to a desk  from the queue ‘to reduce your waiting time’. And the next thing you know, you are pushed a insurance plan/structured product/minibomb…

A friend’s dad went to the bank just to deposit [...]

The High Court has ordered a Swiss  private bank to return US$2.34m lost through unauthorized forex transactions, reports the 11th June 2011 edition of The Straits Times (Give back customer’s US$2.34m, bank told). The customer’s client relationship officer made more than 160 unauthorized forex transactions, making losses of US$2.34m for the [...]

Private banks seems to be busy these days. Yet another lawsuit has surfaced. This time, UBS has taken a couple to court on the grounds that they owe the bank $9m from losses from foreign exchange transactions. The couple has counter-sued claiming that they are relatively inexperienced in financial markets and had relied [...]

The lawsuit between renowned Taiwanese scientist Dr Chang Tse Wen and Deutsche Bank has began in the High Court. The case was first report in The Straits Times on 03th September 2009. Dr Chang is suing Deutsche Bank for breach of legal duties and misrepresentation after the bank sued him for [...]

Facing the problem of dwindling agent force, a major insurer has rolled out its own version of red carpet in a bid to stop the agent exodus and even recruit agents from other companies. This follows a previous article that highlighted this issue of agents jumping ship. According to The Straits [...]

A landbanking firm placed a half page advertisement on the 25th July 2010 edition of The Sunday Times. In the advert, a 28.24%  average rate of return was reported. The figure was even reported to be audited by a large audit firm.

Average rate of return is not the standard way [...]

1 year ago, an FA firm (not an IFA) ran a promotion that offers a ‘free’ first year term coverage by rebating the whole first year premium. Now that promotion has backfired and the insurer wants to claw back more than $7m in commissions and volume discounts due to the high [...]

A major life insurance company in Singapore has embarked on on aggressive drive to increase their private integrated shield plan market share. They are now knocking door to door asking if you have upgraded your shield plan. While the one that knocked on my door was courteous and not pushy. I cannot say [...]

Avoided like the plague during the financial crisis, structured products are reviving like green shoots after a long awaited rain. Dual Currency Deposits in particular, have been really popular. Depositors may not have understood the risks involved. Read the article – Dual Currency Deposits – Do You Know You [...]