The officer who attended to me helped complete a 19-page financial needs analysis questionnaire. Each page consisted of three copies making it a rather thick document of 27 sheets of paper.

Questions on my income, investment, health and many other particulars were recorded, much of which I did not care to look at or respond to. I have bought numerous investment products with OCBC and other companies and did not feel that I had to go through these questions each time.

Just last week, I called on OCBC again to buy another investment product. Again, I was imposed on to go through the same document once more. It took more than 30 minutes to go through this routine.

I understand that the completion of this questionnaire is mandatory as stipulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for products bought on different days, even if these are with the same investing company.

The MAS may have the good intention of protecting an investor's interests, but surely the process can be improved to save unnecessary waste of paper and time for all parties concerned.

The process needs to be refined to do away with the questionnaire if the investor is investing with the same organisation within a specified period of time. Organisations should tap on technology to make the task less onerous and redundant for investors while ensuring their interests are not compromised.

Tan Say Yin (Ms)