So Much for Private Banking

MAY 19  - Singapore businessman Oei Hong Leong - dubbed the 'man with the Midas touch' - lost a whopping US$1 billion (RM3.6billion) 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.

When he knew the full extent of his exposure, he felt he had no choice but to close his positions - at an extremely volatile time last October - thus suffering massive losses.

It is not clear how much of a beating Mr Oei's net worth has taken, but he was ranked Singapore's 29th richest man by Forbes last year with a net worth of only US$210 million.

Forbes bases its listing on stakes in publicly traded companies and in private company filings.

Ironically, Mr Oei has become the latest high-profile victim of the financial crisis because he was trying to reduce his exposure.

In 2007, he believed that the global economy would experience a downturn and decided to trim his trading positions, his statement of claim says.

Meanwhile, he told his private bankers that he wanted to maintain a margin surplus of about US$100 million.

This is cash placed with a bank and clients can trade up to several times that amount. If the trades run up losses, this margin has to be topped up.

Following a change of relationship manager last year, Mr Oei dealt mainly with two assistants in the private banking department, whom he would call to check on the balance on a daily basis.

Having been told that he had a comfortable margin surplus, he entered into further forex contracts between Sept 16 and Oct 6 of last year.

These were deals involving various currencies, including sterling, US dollars, euros and Japanese yen.

Mr Oei says that by carrying out US$1 billion worth of trades in this period, he was 'earning Citibank substantial sums by way of revenues or other charges'.

However, around Oct 23, Mr Oei was told that his margin surplus had been transformed into a shortfall of US$100 million. He began to trim his positions.

But he was receiving conflicting reports. On Oct 27, he was told that this margin shortfall was about USS$90 million, but, by the following day, it had ballooned to US$200 million.

On Oct 29, the shortfall had apparently shrunk to US$28 million, which bewildered Mr Oei because the market had not reversed far enough for the margin to change so dramatically.

Later on the same day, another report was sent to him, stating that the shortfall on Oct 27was actually US$348 million.

Mr Oei alleges that there was a problem in Citibank's tracking and control systems and that his positions were not being accurately updated. 

This meant that he had no way of knowing which figures were correct and which were not.

He said he felt at the time 'that there was no prudent alternative, but that he must trade on the worst view of the figures and reduce his position'.

As a result, after closing out the positions, Mr Oei was left with a loss of US$518.3 million. Together with a further shortfall, he settled all outstanding amounts on the forex positions with Citibank by early November last year.

Other than those positions, he also suffered more losses from his transactions on US Treasury 30-year bonds than he would have done, had Citibank executed his orders, he claims.

Mr Oei has not quantified the amount of his claim. He is asking for the court to assess the damages.

When contacted, Mr Oei declined to comment about the court case. But he disclosed that he had earmarked US$1 billion last year to give to worthy charitable causes.

He added that the losses of about US$1 billion which he has paid up in full, 'has of course set back my financial flexibility somewhat, but it has not dampened my ambition to set up the charitable fund and leave behind a good legacy.'

Yesterday, a Citi spokesman said: "The matter is now before the courts. It is not appropriate for us to comment further. We believe that the claim is without merit and we fully intend to defend our position vigorously." 

Malaysia Confirms Second Case of Swine Flu

Malaysian health authorities on Saturday confirmed the country's second case of swine flu in a student who recently returned from the United States.

The female patient was reportedly a friend of the country's first swine-flu case, a 21-year-old male student, and both had flown back to Malaysia on the same flight Wednesday Malaysia Airlines MH091 from New York (with a brief stop in Stockholm), Health Department deputy director general Ramlee Rahmat said.

The second patient was admitted to hospital Friday in the northern state of Penang, and blood tests confirmed Saturday that she was infected with the H1N1 virus, he said at a press conference.

Ramlee said the pair's two other friends who were on the same flight have been quarantined at home, adding that the woman's family was also under home quarantine.

The country's first victim was at a hospital in the central state of Selangor, more than 400 kilometres from Penang.

Ramlee said the man was given anti-viral drugs and his temperature has since dropped. He said the man's five family members had not shown any systoms of infection.

Despite calls by the government for all 192 passengers on the same flight as the patients to come forward immediately, only 35 have since contacted the ministry, he said.

Malaysia is the second South-East Asian country to confirm swine-flu infections after Thailand.

First Confirmed Swine Flu Case in Malaysia

Malaysia has confirmed its first case of swine flu, the country's top health official says.

"I can confirm (that it) is the first case in Malaysia," Health Ministry Director General Ismail Merican told AFP.

Merican's confirmation followed a statement from the health ministry giving details of the country's first case.

"The patient is a 21-year-old male student who had just returned from the United States on May 13, 2009 and who was down with fever, sore throat and body aches on May 14," it said.

"This is the first A(H1N1) flu case found in Malaysia," the statement added.

It said the patient went into the Sungai Buloh quarantine facility in central Selangor state on the same evening and is now in a stable condition.

It urged all passengers who travelled on the Malaysian airlines flight MH091 from Newark in the United States to Kuala Lumpur that landed at 7.15am on May 13 to contact the ministry for further instructions.

The ministry said it had so far received 11 flu-like cases for investigation with all the patients warded and isolated for monitoring.

"All these cases showed symptoms of flu and had a history of visiting countries infected with the outbreak (but) all their clinical samples had been sent to institute for medical research for lab tests and tested negative," it said.

On Tuesday, the government urged its citizens to defer travel to the US, Mexico, Canada, Spain and Britain following reported cases of swine flu in those countries.

Health authorities have installed 20 thermal scanners at the country's entry points to help detect cases with 9,324 passengers screened so far.

The latest World Health Organisation figures show the number of laboratory-confirmed swine flu cases worldwide is 6,497 in 33 countries.

A total of 65 people have died from the disease, most of them in Mexico.

Talent Exodus

Singapore seems to be a logical choice if you wish to work outside Malaysia ... Personal and commercial income tax in Singapore is also lower than malaysia and one of the lowest in the world. Read the quoted text below from "TheEdge Malaysia".

It is not just the bleak employment scenario at home that is driving Britons abroad, though. There are fears of an exodus of big-earning talent , as the UK looks set to become one of the top 10 most expensive nations taxwise, following the unveiling of tax increases for high earners in the Budget announcement recently.

High-profile businesspeople, including Sir Richard Branson, have slammed the move to raise the top income tax to 50% from the current 45% for those earning more than £150,000 a year, and to cut all personal allowances for those whose annual salary exceeds £100,000. This is seen as a disincentive to entrepreneurs, some of whom have already indicated that they could leave the UK to relocate to tax havens like Switzerland and Monaco. For those looking farther afield, Singapore's top personal income tax rate of 20% would certainly make it seem even more attractive.

In early 2008, The Daily Telegraph reported on an Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) study showing that the UK was experiencing its biggest brain drain in 50 years, as the country lost more than 10% of its most-skilled citizens. While hundreds of thousands of retired Britons live abroad, the study revealed that almost 60% of those leaving take up job overseas. According to anecdotal evidence, the most frequently cited reasons for leaving the country were high house prices, taxes, poor climate and quality of life.

Today, as the UK economy takes its worst dive in 30 years, increasing taxes and unemployment can be added to that list of reasons. Singapore will certainly have a greater pool of talent from which to pick.

Bring PUKI Home

I came across this advertisement while surfing on the net just now.

"Let Shanghai Bank manage your finance. Bring PUKI home !"

Wait, that's NOT all. There even made a song with the word "PUKI". Click the video below. It's so hilarious. The whole Malaysia would laugh till the clinics run out of "Zellox".

If you have watched the video. Then you will know that the pig's name is PUKI. Since that little pig is called PUKI, so i guess we can all assume its mother has got to be called PUKIMA right ? LOL !

A Must See Torture Video

The following video will show you an Afghan grain dealer was beaten with wooden planks with nails, salt poured to his bleeding wound, setting fire to part of his body, electric shocks with a cattle prod, ramming desert sand into his mouth, firing bullets around him with an automatic rifle by a United Arab Emirates Royal Sheikh, Prince Issa. The victim was also driven over with his luxury Mercedes SUV repeatedly. Viewer discretion is strongly advised.

Poor Old Man

A Singaporean man died of a heart failure after his penis became stuck in a soft drink bottle, reported Sin Chew Daily and China Press.

The incident happened when the 77-year-old man used a coke bottle to masturbate.

China Press reported that the senior citizen got his private part into the bottle and only sought help after his penis could not be dislodged from the bottle despite trying various ways such as applying soap water.

Doctor tried to alleviate the man's suffering by cutting the bottle below the neck but no avail because by the time, the skin around the penis had started to become inflamed, causing him unable to urinate.

His misadventure later led to to other medical complications causing his death.

** I don't know which is more sad. Getting with his pants down with his dick stuck in a coke bottle or the fact that his dick is actually small enough to be inserted into a coke bottle. LOL !