Forum: Make checks to ensure banks comply with rules

A photo from Sept 19, 2018, shows the Monetary Authority of Singapore building along Shenton Way. PHOTO: ST FILE

I thank the Monetary Authority of Singapore for its detailed reply (Checks in place for banks selling investment products, April 8) to my letter (Relook consumer banking practices, April 4), and very much appreciate that it has stringent rules in place.

I hope that internal audit and the relevant departments of banks will monitor strictly for compliance.

My concerns stem from my recent experience. The promised copies of the documents were not sent to me until days later, and only after I had demanded that they be e-mailed to me immediately.

When after a seven-day wait, I asked why I had not received them, I was told that they were being mailed out in batches and would take two weeks to reach me.

That would have exceeded the 14-day "free-look" period, depriving me of the chance to read the documents thoroughly.

When I eventually received the documents, totalling 47 pages, I found that they warned of a potentially higher risk than what was earlier presented.

This episode, therefore, led me to suggest that retail products have a "free-look" clause, or a mandatory period for review of documents by customers before they sign, to give customers a fair chance of reading the documents in their entirety.

Agnes Sng Hwee Lee

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on April 13, 2020, with the headline Forum: Make checks to ensure banks comply with rules. Subscribe