More protection for investors

More protection for investors

More protection for investors
By Lorna Tan, Senior Correspondent

RETAIL investors can look forward to more protection with the rolling out of new safeguards put forward by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) last month.

The MAS says the measures aim to ensure that financial institutions recommend suitable investment products.

Product features and risks should be conveyed effectively in order to safeguard customers, particularly those who may not have the relevant investment knowledge or experience, it says.

The measures will be rolled out in stages. First up will be those not requiring legislative changes. They follow some rude shocks suffered by investors during the financial crisis that were later investigated by the MAS.

The MAS looked into the huge losses of about 9,900 people here who lost some or all of their investments, totalling about $520 million.

These retail investors had bought products known as structured notes such as Lehman Minibonds, DBS High Notes 5 and Morgan Stanley Pinnacle Series 9 and 10 Notes. These products came unstuck when United States investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed, for instance.