Phillips Share Builders Plan

[ghchua]

indeed. do take a look at their GEMS too. i laugh until fall off the chair. really cannot make it.

What happened to their GEMS?

[serendib]

Same situation here wrt STI ETF buy price.
I've written to them (both Kelly and POEMS SBP enquiries) to ask for an explanation as well. Hope they reply.

[clonewolf]

go attend hear out the speaker and u will find out.

[banyan]

go attend hear out the speaker and u will find out.

Could u fill us in? I haven't heard from them. Got to make some noise since they skewed the price.

[serendib]

Just got this response:

Hi,

Thank you for your email.


We had highlighted this issue to the management and are investigating on this issue.



We sincerely hope you will allow us more time for our investigation, and we will get back to you soonest possible to update you on the investigation results.



Thank you very much for your kind understanding.

Warmest Regards,
Lee Soo Hoon Gwen (Ms)
POEMS Marketing
Phillip Securities Pte Ltd (Member of PhillipCapital)
250 North Bridge Road
#06-00 Raffles City Tower
Singapore 179101

[Bean]

How are your experience with the buy-in price of your blue chip counters so far in SBP?

According to the presentation here: http://shares.poems.com.sg/homepage/htm ... 20nov%2006)%20-edited.pdf
"Shares will be bought at a market price deemed best by the SBP dealer."

My experience for the past half a year has being mixed, but tends more towards the higher end of the daily price range.

[clonewolf]

its best enjoyed by personally by yourself.
to get the climax experience cant be fullfilled by me even though i can try.

Could u fill us in? I haven't heard from them. Got to make some noise since they skewed the price.

[stam]

Pls post when you guys get the official answer from philip

[DPSK]

"Shares will be bought at a market price deemed best by the SBP dealer."

deemed best doesnt sound good at all

what is best to them may not be good for others

[serendib]

what the POEMS website says about SBP purchases is as follows:

Buying of SBP Shares
The aggregate monthly investments of all clients for
any particular selected SBP counter will be done on
the 18th of every month on a non-discriminatory and
non-preferential basis.

I'm just wondering how the purchase of the STI ETF counter is done by the SBP dealer on the 18th - if its done in one shot and the volume is significant, there could be a big disparity between the first share bought and the last. This is a common problem with mutual funds who buy/sell large chunks of a counter, but not sure if a similar situation is in play here.

[serendib]

This is what I got from Phillips:

Dear Sir,





With regards to the price bought-in for the respective SBP counters for the month of Sep 08, we had brought this issue up to our top management personnel.



Upon thorough investigation by all Phillip Securities Pte Ltd’s respective departments involved in buying of SBP counters and final decisions made by our management, the reason for the price bought-in for some of the SBP counters averaged to be higher was due to the market conditions on Thursday, 18 Sep 2008.



Due to the market conditions on Thursday, 18 Sep 2008, some of the respective SBP counters are bought over 2 days instead of 1.



If you have any other enquiries pertaining to Share Builders Plan, please email poems_enquiry@phillip.com.sg or esbp@phillip.com.sg



Warmest Regards,



SBP Administrator

POEMS Marketing

Phillip Securities Pte Ltd

Lame excuse if you ask me. What possible "market conditions" prevented them from buying the STI ETF on the 18th? Furthermore, the price on the 19th ranged from 2.56 to 2.63, so SBP buyers are still short-changed - its as if they only bought on the 19th.

[stam]

will they explain the "market condition " ??

[serendib]

Does anyone have a full set of T&C for SBP? I remember when I asked, I was just referred to the Information Sheet, which clearly states that only if the 18th is a non-market day will purchases be made on the next market day:

http://www.poems.com.sg/FinancialServic ... osheet.pdf

and the SBP application form states:
"...the terms and conditions spelt out and from time to time amended in the Terms and Conditions governing Phillip Securities Trading Account, Phillip Share
Builders Plan and the relevant Information Sheet, all of which shall be read with, referred to and construed as part of the agreement between Phillip Securities Pte Ltd (“PSPL”) and
myself in respect of the Share Builders Plan."

So this info sheet is part of the agreement between the SBP Buyer and Phillips.

I will craft a reply to Phillips when I find sometime this week.

[Bean]

Volume on the 18th September did not seem to be a problem too.... There were 319000 shares that exchange hands on that day.

This is more than 10 times higher compared to the volume on 18th April, when I first started my SBP, when the volume was just 29000 shares, and there was no problem then.

[banyan]

That's an ridiculous answer contradictory to what the SGX VP said in a Phillip ETF seminar. The ETF market makers are committed to facilitate transactions. I have asked them to show proof of failed transactions.

Guys, got to make bigger noise.

[banyan]

serendib, seems I still have a soft copy on my home PC. Will upload here if I find it.

[Bean]

I think the bigger issue is how the SBP dealers buy in the units for us. Currently, we do not know whether is there any discrepancy between their trade price and the price stated in our account, and in the process profit the differences.

The reason why we participate in SBP is to reduce our upfront cost and buy blue chips on a regular savings basis. But the daily range can be quite high (for instance the daily price range of STI ETF on 18th Sep is 4%) which really defeat the purpose of SBP if most of our 'buy-in' price is on the upper end of the daily price range.

This incident of giving us a price of more than 3% above the upper limit of the daily price range is really too much.

[stam]

i will join in the email too!!

[banyan]

The SBP T&C can be downloaded at http://www.poems.com.sg/FinancialServices/SBPtc.pdf. Apparently Phillip doesn't comply with the T&C set out by themselves.

[clonewolf]

r u buying 1000lot of the ETF? if not why make so much noise?

[stam]

................

[serendib]

Thanks banyan - I took a glance at the T&C. I cant see any clause which allows them to cite "market conditions" as a reason for not honouring the purchase terms.

The SBP T&C can be downloaded at http://www.poems.com.sg/FinancialServices/SBPtc.pdf

Apparently Phillip doesn't comply with the T&C set out by themselves.

I think most of us dont have the time to individually craft a response - may I suggest that we collectively draft something, which we can then send out individually?

[stam]

got response from Philip

Thank you for your email and we noted your concerns.



Due to communication lapses, the respective counters, STI ETF and SGX, were not successfully executed on the 18th of Sep 2008. Therefore, the balance quantity was executed on the 19th Sep 2008. Please be informed that we will credit you with the rightful number of shares based on the weighted-average price of the SBP counter on the 18th Sep 2008. Attached is the screen shot of the STI ETF share counter weighted-average price on the 18th Sep 2008.



Please be assured that measures are taken to prevent this situation from occurring again.



We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused to you.



We truly appreciate your kind understanding and patience on this matter.



Thank you.

[banyan]

I got the reply, too. It looks like they will re-priced at $2.4238 (weighted average on 18th), although I am still not convinced by the weak reason.

[serendib]

Ditto - got the same response from Kelly. Glad they realised their mistake and were honest enough to correct it. Certainly a better effort than their initial response which could be summarised as "too bad, management decision".
Maybe the recent bad press about investment services made them think twice!