The next session will be held on 21st November, 9am to 1pm at Ballroom 1 (level 2), Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre. The programme are of the day is as follows:

• Forex market and derivatives
• Forex margin trading and foreign currency fixed deposits
• Dual currency investments and equity linked notes (ELN)
• Risks and pitfalls of investments

My Money series is organised by Securities Investors Association of Singapore (SIAS). To register, call 62272683 or email admin@sias.org.sg. Limited seats are available so do register early if you intend to go.

Under this new package, customers are charged an interest rate of SIBOR + 1.1% throughout the loan tenure.

With the special equity-linked feature, the customer will get a cash rebate of 0.25% (of the current loan outstanding amount) if the Singapore Free Index manages to appreciate 30% from its original price (known as barrier level). This 30% appreciation check is done once every quarter over a period of two years.

Thus, it is possible for a customer to get a maximum rebate of slightly less than 2% of the original loan amount. Practically, the amount of rebate will not hit the maximum possible as there is no guarantee the Singapore stock market can rally 30% from current levels in the near future.

A minimum loan size of $200,000 is required and the package is currently only available to new and existing HSBC Premier customers.

HSBC’s new home loan offer is available until Nov 30. To qualify for HSBC Premier, customers must maintain a total relationship balance of at least $200,000 with the bank.

While this is indeed an innovative idea by HSBC, I am not so sure whether consumers in Singapore are ready for it at this present moment, especially when people are been hurt in the past year by so many structured products that have gone wrong. I am not so sure whether there is a prospectus for this, but I don’t think anyone is about to start reading through a 100-page prospectus for taking up a home loan?

Dear all,

Please be informed that a receiver has been appointed to look into the affairs of UAG. You may wish to log on www.ipto.gov.sg to list yourself as one of the creditors against Universal Assets Group Pte Ltd. The winding up number is 123 of 2009.

Maritime & Investment Fraud Branch
Commercial Affairs Department

And thanks to an investor who posted up the exact steps as below:

Login to www.iptoonline.gov.sg
Under Corporate Insolvency, select Proof of Debt for Company Liquidation
(Form 77)
Select Yes
Enter winding up no 123/2009

It asks for your details and $5 payment.

CIT’s bankruptcy has been partially expected as they have been repeatably trying to raise more and more capital for the past few months without much success. With a default rate in excess of 10% in their current loan portfolio, it appears that SMEs are still in pretty much of a struggle, never mind what the economic numbers say.

While this seems like just another bank failure out of the 115 that have failed in US so far this year, note that this is the fifth largest bankruptcy in US history, behind Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, WorldCom and General Motors.

However, CIT was considered not to be “too big to fail” as the US government did not eventually bail out the company. The US government actually gave CIT US$2.3 billion last fall as part of a rescue of other banks and lenders, although there is now little hope of that money being recovered.

Under the proposed prepackaged plan of reorganization, all existing common and preferred stock will be cancelled upon emergence. The effectively means that all existing shareholders will be wiped out. Apparently, some people are still hopeful of recovering something for the shareholders as the share price of CIT was trading at $0.25 yesterday (compared to $0.72 on Friday).

It remains to be seen what is the spillover effects on the businesses who depend on CIT for loans, but it is reported that the operating entities (subsidiaries) of CIT Group remain unaffected and will continue lending to small and middle market businesses.

I have actually been monitoring the CIT news for quite some time. With its bankruptcy and the recent increased volatility in the market, I will stay clear of any short-term bargain hunting trades for the time being.

If you like to do your bit to reduce poverty in the world through microfinancing, you can do so by joining Kiva.

Kiva is a non-profit website that allows you to lend as little as US$25 to a specific low-income entrepreneur across the globe. You choose who to lend to – whether it is a baker in Afghanistan, a goat herder in Uganda, a farmer in Peru, a restaurateur in Cambodia, or a tailor in Iraq.

The money you lent them will enable them to start or improve their business and help them get out of the poverty trap.

As they repay the loan, you get your money back and you can choose to either withdraw the money or lend it to someone else. As you recycle your capital into making more loans, the initial capital that you contribute has a multiplier effect towards changing other people’s lives.

If you have benefited from this website in one way or another, I would like to invite you to join my Make a Difference (MAD) team on Kiva where we can work together to alleviate poverty.

Once you’re a part of my team, you can choose to have a future loan on Kiva “count” towards our team’s impact. The loan is still yours, and repayments still come to you – but you can also choose to have the loan show up in our team’s collective portfolio, so our team’s overall impact will grow.

I’m sure many of us want to leave behind some form of legacy. You don’t need to be a millionaire to do so – you can start small by simply loaning out an amount as low as US$25 through Kiva. You can also do your part by telling other people about Kiva.

Click here to start making a difference through Kiva.

“See hw our student made $78000 into $1000 in 2 mths. Free Preview on 28 and 29 Oct, 7pm onwards @ NUSS Suntec Twr Lvl 5. SMS to xxxxxxxx to reserve. Ltd Seats!”

Made $78000 into $1000? Er..no thanks.

The use of the wrong word can easily change the meaning of the message the sender was trying to achieve.

But this is probably the outcome you will get if you go into trading thinking you can turn $1000 into $78000. Now, who is there to regulate the use of misleading claims in advertisements?

However, the thing that upset me about the message was that the person who sent the SMS did not adhere to Singapore’s Spam Control Act for mass marketing messages. He  or she might want to familarise himself with the  Spam Control Act in Singapore.

These would include putting the <ADV> label at the start of the SMS, as well as an unsubscribe facility.

Failure to do so can result in statutory damages of  S$25 per non-compliant spam, up to a maximum of S$1million.

The plans are either 2 or 5 year terms offering yields of between 1.4% to 2.75% p.a.

• AIA Wealth Accumulator
• HSBC Guaranteed Saver Plus
• PruInvestor Guaranteed Plus
• TM NestEgg (SP Guaranteed)
• NTUC Capital Plus

The recent trend sees the yield getting lower compared to the series that were launched earlier in the year. For example, HSBC’s current Guaranteed Saver Plus gives a yield of 1.8% to 2.0% p.a. for  a 5-year term, compared to an earlier 2.25% to 2.75%.

However, the take-up rate for these plans remains tremendous. With the plans being of “limited size”, consumers have been quick to take up the plans. The latest offering by TM Asia Life took less than a week to be fully subscribed.

Looks like this is the hot product in our market now. The liquidity fueling these products  is likely to be funds being transferred from banks.

This will be the first China A-shares ETF to be listed in Singapore.

UOB Kay Hian, the brokerage arm of UOB, will start offering the ETF to retail investors from 29th October 2009 with an initial target to raise $60 million.

Access to A-shares market in China is traditionally limited to Chinese nationals and Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFIIs) approved by the Chinese regulator.

The United FTSE/Xinhua China A50 ETF will be offered in Singapore dollar denomination and is expected to be priced between S$2.40 and S$2.50 a unit.

United FTSE/Xinhua China A50 ETF Prospectus here

UK Land Registry Warning on Land Investment Scams

UK Land Registry Guide to Buying Land Claimed or Thought to Have Developmental Potential

Beware the Great Land Scam

When is a Plot Not Really a Plot

FAQ on Buying Land from UK

The plan requires a minimum of $15,000 and gives a fixed yearly dividend (interest) of 2.45%. The investment can be using either cash or SRS.

No medical underwriting is required and the maximum age to be eligible for the product is 70 years old.

There will be a slight insurance protection of 5% of the premiums for death and total and permanent disability (TPD). Meaning if someone dies during the term of the plan, his dependents will receive 105% of the premiums paid.

The plan is only suitable for those who don’t require the funds for 5 years as there will be surrender penalties for early termination of the plan. The money received in the event of an early surrender will not be the same as the money put in.

TM Nest Egg (SP-Guaranteed 4) will be withdrawn once the subscription target has been met.

Judging from the speed which Prudential took to sell out their PruInvestor Guaranteed Plus in just a few weeks, this latest launch by TM Asia Life will probably not be on the market for long.