By Lee Su Shyan, Assistant Money Editor

LOCAL businessman Oei Hong Leong - dubbed the 'man with the Midas touch' - lost a whopping $1 billion on foreign exchange and US Treasury bond transactions last year.

While he has fully paid off these losses, he is now suing Citigroup's private banking arm in the High Court for negligence and misrepresentation, legal documents seen by The Straits Times reveal.

Mr Oei claims that the bank - with which he has a 30-year relationship - repeatedly gave him an inaccurate picture of his trading exposure, causing him to take on more positions than he would have otherwise done so.

A spokesman from Citi told Reuters in an email: 'We believe that the claim is without merit and we fully intend to defend our position vigorously.' It declined to comment further on the matter.

There was no immediate comment available from Oei's office.

Oei was ranked Singapore's 29th richest person by Forbes last year with a net worth of $210 million. Forbes calculated Oei's wealth based on his stakes in publicly traded companies and in private company filings.

According to Straits Times, Oei claimed he felt compelled to close his positions at an extremely volatile time in October last year, taking huge losses, as he felt he had no choice after discovering the full extent of his exposure.

Some angry Asian private banking clients have filed lawsuits after losing money on complex financial products battered in a global market meltdown last year, forcing the industry into damage control.

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Additional reporting from Reuters