By Fiona Chan

DBS Bank will pay $70 million to $80 million in compensation to customers in Singapore and Hong Kong who bought its Lehman Brothers-related structured products, now almost worthless because they were linked to the collapsed investment bank.

'To date, we have found that a number of cases did not meet the standards DBS upholds and the bank will be compensating these customers with effect from tomorrow,' it said in a statement last night.

Some investors stand to get all their money back, while others may only get a partial payment.

Disputes agency settles most cases within six months

IT MAY just be a consolation for distressed investors, but most cases that arrive on the desk of the Financial Industry Disputes Resolution Centre (Fidrec) are resolved within six months.

The agency was set up in 2005 just for this purpose - to tackle complaints by retail investors about investments like structured products that go sour.

It has already received requests for help from 530 investors of toxic structured products. These include 422 people in connection with Lehman Minibonds, 80 for DBS High Notes 5 and 28 for Merrill Lynch Jubilee Series 3 Linkearner Notes.


Potential saviours for Minibonds
By Francis Chan and Fiona Chan

TWO potential white knights have stepped up to try to save Minibond investors from losing their entire investment following the collapse of United States investment bank Lehman Brothers.

HSBC Institutional Trust Services, the trustee of Minibond Series 5 and 6, yesterday confirmed that it had received two proposals from financial institutions.

They are interested in taking over from Lehman as the swap counterparty for the notes and holding them to maturity.

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