A couple of pals in Pattaya here have been telling me of their investing experience with HSBC's Private Banking Division (HPB). Their tale of woe is quite extraordinary when you consider they were dealing with a bank that deems itself 'the world's local bank'. I have tried to reduce their lengthy story to the shortest form possible and hopefully I haven't missed any key points:
- Both friends were invested in funds that were identified as low risk by HPB's Hong Kong based Relationship Manager for Thailand
- Both lost money, one 30% of his original investment
- HPB still took their fees, even though they had not made any money for either client
- In a period of 2 years my friends have had 5 different Relationship Managers which my friends feel was bank policy to eliminate accountability and continuity
- Action agreed with the Relationship Managers during their infrequent visits to Pattaya would be completely forgotten once the Relationship Managers left town.
- When my friends expressed concern about the state of their investments, it took HPB weeks to react, weeks in which both my friends lost further money.
Their overall impression of HPB's Relationship Managers is they are no more than 
insurance salesmen, (apologies to insurance salesmen). They just want to sign you up and move on. It seems that if you are a small investor, investing less than £1,000,000 then you can expect only the minimum of service from HPB.
What I find extraordinary is how the bank's have been allowed to write their own rules. They can charge fees whether they make money or not, so where's the incentive for them to perform? They don't even have to guarantee they will do better than one year fixed deposit/term deposit rates. If they can't guarantee that, why bother.
I have to say I'm somewhat surprised by what happened to my friends. I've had nothing but quality service from HSBC's Banking Division over the years. Clearly HSBC's Private Banking Division is not cut from the same cloth so you should proceed with caution if you ever consider investing with them.
Sierra Tangos
- Pattaya City News conducted a survey of venues on Walking Street on Monday Night to find out how many venues are complying with the 'no smoking' Law. They visited 19 establishments on Walking Street and found that 6 of them were smoke-free. However the smoke-free establishments were found to have far fewer patrons that the ones who were still permitting smoking.
- Cabinet reviews controversial candidates for ministerial jobs - "About half of candidates nominated by the People Power Party are deemed inappropriate for the job," Prime Minister Samak said. He declined to comment on the qualifications of Wan Yoobamrung, son of Interior Minister Chalerm. [via The Nation]
- Three die in two motorcycle accidents in the last 24 hours. In the first accident, 2 Thai males died after crashing in to each other at high speed on Theppasit Road Soi 7. In the second accident, a Thai female died after colliding with a truck on Sukhumvit Road. [via Pattaya Daily News]
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Looks like the war's almost over:
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Netflix just announced today that they will be acquiring no more HD DVD titles as they begin their transition to Blu-ray as their sole high-def DVD format. This might be the nail in the coffin for those of you who were still skeptical about a clear winner already emerging in the Blu-ray vs. HD DVD format war. [via CyberNet]
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Starting next month Best Buy says it will prominently display Blu-ray players and discs in its stores and recommend the format over rival HD DVD, according to a Reuters report. [via Crave]
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- Homepage startup - if you want quick access to your favourite web sites then this is for you. One page to rule them all, one page to find them.....
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Reverse Phone Number Lookup - Sullr is a tool for obtaining information from
telephone lines in reverse mode. Very quickly, it will allow you to know the name of the person responsible and find on the map the address where he is. [via Go2Web20]
Currently works for Argentina, Belgium, France, Italy and U.S.A.
- Exercise in a hot tub. This is the D.B.s - This is a convergence trend that must be stopped: the combination of fitness and relaxation products. A hot tub that--gasp--includes built-in exercise equipment.
Or aqua-cise, to be exact, hence the name--the "AquaFit 19 Dual Temp." The "Dual Temp" part refers to its two temperature zones, cooler for workouts and hotter for the whirlpool. "It includes all of the equipment that you need for stationary swimming, jogging, and rowing," Uber-Review says. And you must pay $40,000 for the privilege of ruining your sanctuary. [via Crave]
- Genevieve Michelle in Playboy
- Carnival In Brazil - Does this guy have the best job in the world?
- A rugby referee died and went to heaven.
Stopped by St Peter at the gates he was told that only brave people who had performed heroic deeds and had the courage of their convictions could enter.
If he could describe a situation in his life where he had shown these characteristics, he would be allowed in.
"Well," said the ref, "I was controlling a game between Wales and England in Cardiff.
"Wales were two points ahead with a minute to go. Ben Cohen made a break, passed inside to Martin Johnson. Johnson was driven on by his forwards, before he passed out to Lawrence Dallaglio who went over in the corner.
"But Dallaglio dropped the ball before he could ground it. As England were clearly the better side all game, I ruled that he had got it down and awarded the try."
"Ok, that was fairly brave of you, but I will have to check it in the book," said Peter, before disappearing to look it up.
When he came back he said: "Sorry, there's no record of this. Can you help me to trace it? When did all this happen?"
The ref looked at his watch and replied: "Forty-five seconds ago."
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