Vulnerable HNW customers were among the victims of several advisors at various firms who handed out misleading advice about financial products. The advisors have been banned from financial services for differing periods.

The people are:

• Mr David Hiah Xinkai, a former representative of Prudential Assurance Co Singapore;
• Ms Heng Goid Hoon, a former representative of AIA Singapore Pte Ltd;
• Ms Koh Mei Ling, her erstwhile colleague there;
• Ms Jane Yeo Hui Rong, her erstwhile colleague there;
• Mr Nigel Chua Bingquan, a former representative of Prudential; and
• Ms Zheng Xuemei, a former representative of Citibank Singapore.

The prohibition orders that the MAS has issued will prohibit these people from providing any financial advisory service and from taking part in the management of, acting as directors of, or becoming substantial shareholders of any financial advisory firms for periods ranging between 2 and 7 years. It has also prohibited one of them from performing any regulated activity under the Securities and Futures Act and from taking part in the management of, acting as a director of, or becoming a substantial shareholder of any capital market services firm, for a period of 2 years.

The MAS has chided the former advisors for breaching their duty of care to their customers, although the temporary nature of their exile gives the lie to its stated desire "to weed out errant representatives from the industry."

These punishments are the result of a series of wide-ranging MAS investigations. Every one of the six committed either forgery,or made false or misleading statements to customers when providing financial advice, or made false or misleading representations to the insurer, or provided financial advice without due consideration of their customers’ financial circumstances, or 'switched' policies improperly. Some did many of these things. 'Switching' involves a situation in which a customer disposes of, or reduces his interest in, all or part of an investment product to acquire, or increase his interest in, all or part of another investment product.

David Hiah Xinkai and Heng Goid Hoon preyed on vulnerable customers and therefore warranted stiffer penalties than the rest. The MAS considers customers to be vulnerable if they satisfy two of the following criteria:

• aged 62 years or older;
• not proficient in written or spoken English;
• have no GCE ‘O’ level or ‘N’ level qualifications, or their foreign equivalents.