An obvious ruse.

DBS Bank is being sued by 200 investors over its now worthless Lehman linked DBS High Notes 5. (HN5). The reason for the suit is that the literature accompanying these high notes was contradictory as to what would happen in a "credit event". The suit points out that the true meaning of the literature and the correct payout cannot be determined, so the agreement should be considered void.

DBS, a bank partially owned by the Singapore government through Temasek and Maju holdings, is defending itself by stating that the literature contains "an obvious clerical error" that the investors should have been aware of, if they read it. The "error" states that the payout will be 1 minus the value of the notes, in a credit event. This means that the payout INCREASES as the value of the NOTES decrease. This amounts to an insurance against loss, interestingly.

Now, I find it very, very curious indeed, that DBS are claiming that their contract contains an obvious clerical error - for the obvious counter to that is, if the error is SO obvious - why did no-one at DBS spot it before printing the materials? Surely, it was someone's job to proofread the materials and check them carefully before approval. The very fact that this was not effective in spotting this error is proof of one of two situations: either the DBS staff appointed to approve the literature are incompetent and perhaps, even, stupid (for if it were "obvious" only a stupid or inattentive person would not have noticed) OR it is NOT an obvious error.

DBS cannot, in any way, claim that an error was OBVIOUS that was NOT noticed by their own staff who should be well-versed indeed in how such notes work. In fact, if the DBS staff did NOT notice it - which they didn't - then that is PROOF that the error is not obvious. If it were obvious, it would not be there, because it would have been spotted. Indeed, the threshold for what is obvious should be much, much lower for customers, to whom the products will be less familiar, perhaps even strange, than it is for DBS staff.

The bottom line is this: the DBS staff didn't notice the error - so the customers should not be expected to either.

Of course, this now means that DBS must make what amounts to FULL refunds to its customers for the value of the notes lost. For, of course, 1 minus zero is 1 - or the full value of the notes.

I think, if DBS are to be seen as an honest company and not one consumed by an undue lust for the customer's cash at all costs - they should own up that they were at fault - and pay up. It would be the right thing to do, given the circumstance.

We will see how much integrity DBS shows in this instance.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals.If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)