Remisiers scrambling to clear new exam
Goh Eng Yeow
The Straits Times
Wednesday, May 01, 2013
Professional share dealers are racing against the clock to pass a crucial new examination, imposed by the authorities, by a June 30 deadline.
They need to pass the exam in order to continue to serve clients seeking complex financial products such as covered warrants and exchange-traded funds.
Many are worried that their livelihood will be undermined if they fail to make the grade by the deadline.
If they do not pass the exam in time, they may have to give up serving valuable clients who want to trade such products in addition to the usual shares listed on the Singapore Exchange.
These complex products are known as specified investment products (SIPs).
Remisiers are self-employed agents attached to broking houses who get a 40 per cent share of the commission levied on the trades executed by their clients.
So far, no data is available on the number of remisiers, or trading representatives as they are known in the business, who have passed the Capital Markets and Financial Advisory Services Module 6A examination.
The exam was introduced by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) last year to raise competency standards in the stockbroking industry.
One reason for the move was that many unsophisticated investors were burnt by complex investment products during the global financial crisis.
The consensus among industry insiders is that as many as half of the 4,000-strong sales force of dealers and remisiers serving investors in the stock market may not have cleared the hurdle yet.
The confusion over what might happen after the June 30 deadline is compounded by conflicting notifications sent out by the various brokerages to their remisiers.
One brokerage apparently told remisiers who have not passed the exam that if their clients trade SIPs on the Internet, they may not get the brokerage fee for the transactions. But they would still be liable for any losses incurred by the clients on the trades.
The remisiers also face the risk of losing clients trading SIPs who may be re-assigned to dealers who have passed the exam.
Amid the confusion, remisiers are up in arms over what they perceive as an attempt by some brokerages to capitalise on their plight. Mr Jimmy Ho, president of the Society of Remisiers (Singapore), said: "For any broking house to force a remisier to transfer a client to someone else because he has not passed an exam is morally and contractually wrong. These clients were sourced, nurtured and brought into the firm by the remisier."
Older remisiers, who have not taken exams for years, are aggrieved. "They are driving us out. They want new blood in the business and we cannot pass the exam. This is killing two birds with one stone," said remisier Jan Lam, 55.
But some brokerage bosses told The Straits Times they are working on an industry-wide solution to tackle the challenges thrown up by the new MAS requirement.
UOB Kay Hian senior executive director Esmond Choo said: "The industry is looking to resolve the problem, like setting up a central desk to answer clients' queries relating to SIP trades."
Issues such as the compensation a remisier may get from his clients' SIP trades even though he may not have passed the exam are also being thrashed out.
"There will be discussions with various parties, including the regulators," he said.
CIMB Securities chief executive Carol Fong also allayed the fears of her affected remisiers.
She said: "No decision has been made on client ownership and commission sharing. In making the decision, we will engage them on their views and regulatory position, after we have discussions with other industry participants.
At Maybank Kim Eng, chief executive Tan Pei-San said that while remisiers who have not passed Module 6A by the stipulated date would not get commissions from their clients' SIP trades, they will not be required to bear the risk for such trades.
engyeow@sph.com.sg
- wong chee tat :)
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
POSB to expand its reach as the 'people's bank'
POSB to expand its reach as the 'people's bank'
Magdalen Ng
Wednesday, May 01, 2013
POSB has plans to widen its reach in the community and hopes to entrench its position as the "people's bank", said Mr Derrick Goh, who took over as bank head in October last year.
"Since last year, we have made a concerted effort to reach out to the full spectrum of the community, from the young to the senior citizens," he said in a recent interview.
He recognised that POSB has lost a bit of ground in its outreach effort during the past few years, but he preferred to "look forward rather than backward".
"POSB has a long heritage, providing banking services for generations of Singaporeans. We want to continue that time-tested and much-loved tradition, and we will do so by offering the full range of basic banking products. We want to do a lot better in that space," he said.
POSB and DBS Bank, both of which are part of DBS Group Holdings, have an ATM network that numbers more than 1,100.
One outreach effort, unveiled on Sunday, is a tie-up with Singapore Press Holdings to locate POSB ATM machines at SPH Buzz Pods, which are convenience stores located across the island.
This move is part of POSB's network strategy to provide greater reach and convenience for its customers.
Last year, the bank started to provide banking services at SingPost outlets, and also set up smaller branches at community centres.
The next POSB branch will open next month at the West Coast Community Club.
Mr Goh said: "We think that being part of the community is actually getting into their daily routine, where they work, where they go to school. That is where we would like POSB to be."
To cater for the elderly, POSB branches have designated a special counter for them every Tuesday, open during the first three hours of business, to reduce the time they spend waiting in line.
Together with the Council For Third Age, POSB also launched the Active card - an ATM card and a signature-based debit card targeted at senior citizens.
For Housing Board home owners, POSB recently launched a new floating rate loan whose interest rate is capped below the board's concessionary rate for 10 years.
Ms Karen Ngui, DBS Bank's managing director and head of group strategic marketing and communications, noted: "We recognise that we have a responsibility to bank the whole of Singapore, and we will make it easy for Singapore to bank with us."
"Banking some of the accounts is not bottom-line accretive, but we will continue to do it, and see what the best way is to do it," she added.
For example, POSB does not charge minimum balance fees for students below 21, people above 65, full-time national servicemen and people under the Ministry of Social and Family Development's public assistance schemes.
"We want to promote the value of savings and not let people get so fussed up over the issue of fees," said Mr Goh.
songyuan@sph.com.sg
- wong chee tat :)
Magdalen Ng
Wednesday, May 01, 2013
POSB has plans to widen its reach in the community and hopes to entrench its position as the "people's bank", said Mr Derrick Goh, who took over as bank head in October last year.
"Since last year, we have made a concerted effort to reach out to the full spectrum of the community, from the young to the senior citizens," he said in a recent interview.
He recognised that POSB has lost a bit of ground in its outreach effort during the past few years, but he preferred to "look forward rather than backward".
"POSB has a long heritage, providing banking services for generations of Singaporeans. We want to continue that time-tested and much-loved tradition, and we will do so by offering the full range of basic banking products. We want to do a lot better in that space," he said.
POSB and DBS Bank, both of which are part of DBS Group Holdings, have an ATM network that numbers more than 1,100.
One outreach effort, unveiled on Sunday, is a tie-up with Singapore Press Holdings to locate POSB ATM machines at SPH Buzz Pods, which are convenience stores located across the island.
This move is part of POSB's network strategy to provide greater reach and convenience for its customers.
Last year, the bank started to provide banking services at SingPost outlets, and also set up smaller branches at community centres.
The next POSB branch will open next month at the West Coast Community Club.
Mr Goh said: "We think that being part of the community is actually getting into their daily routine, where they work, where they go to school. That is where we would like POSB to be."
To cater for the elderly, POSB branches have designated a special counter for them every Tuesday, open during the first three hours of business, to reduce the time they spend waiting in line.
Together with the Council For Third Age, POSB also launched the Active card - an ATM card and a signature-based debit card targeted at senior citizens.
For Housing Board home owners, POSB recently launched a new floating rate loan whose interest rate is capped below the board's concessionary rate for 10 years.
Ms Karen Ngui, DBS Bank's managing director and head of group strategic marketing and communications, noted: "We recognise that we have a responsibility to bank the whole of Singapore, and we will make it easy for Singapore to bank with us."
"Banking some of the accounts is not bottom-line accretive, but we will continue to do it, and see what the best way is to do it," she added.
For example, POSB does not charge minimum balance fees for students below 21, people above 65, full-time national servicemen and people under the Ministry of Social and Family Development's public assistance schemes.
"We want to promote the value of savings and not let people get so fussed up over the issue of fees," said Mr Goh.
songyuan@sph.com.sg
- wong chee tat :)
Woman's leg caught in platform gap during rush hour
Woman's leg caught in platform gap during rush hour
Madam Ong - who did not want to give her full name - escaped with only bruises after the morning rush-hour incident at Little India station, but believes it could have been worse.
- wong chee tat :)
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