7 July 2020

COMPLAINT AGAINST RM Dylan Chan

I have received on 2nd July 2020 two letters from UOB dated 23rd June that
my two accounts will be closed on 7th July, without stating any reasons.

So I went up to Privileged Banking Department at Marina Bay Financial

Centre to call my RM Dylan Chan right in front of the department Head Ms
Karen. At 3:20pm 3rd July.

I asked him what happened to my accounts and why are they closed abruptly.

Dylan told me that it is because of there are too many transactions of my

accounts between entities. And it has made the bank uncomfortable. I said,
well, then shouldn't you be telling me and informing me beforehand?

I said, if there were any transaction that was not right, shouldn’t it be the legal
entity the one who check and deal with it?

Dylan said it is the decision of the bank. I said, sure fine, but should not you
put the interest of clients at high priority? What if there are outstanding
cheques that I have issued to clients that might be banked in after 7th July?

So I asked Dylan which transactions did he find suspicious? I can explain

every single one. Dylan replied saying that it was a long list and he didn't have
it at his finger tips.

And I asked Dylan which business and banking relationship with UOB he
thought inappropriate, lack of, or insufficient. And he said it is not on business
reason. So I read the letter UOB sent to me. (which reads: "As part of our
review of our business and banking relationship.")

Dylan answered "oh! It’s not a business reason."

So I asked: "so your bank sends out letter not meaning what it says?"

I asked, "So I should closed the account now or what?" Of which Dylan
answered: "I can take order from you Mr Cheah. I cannot tell you what to do."

I told Dylan I was surprised. That he is not a professional that I thought he

was, which means adequately equipped to give me professional advice.

In short, I regret to say that I have been rather disappointed by UOB and my
RM, for the following reasons:
I have been a UOB client for twelve years. And I am using the UOB metal
reserve card. It is long enough for any KYC (know your clients) investigation. I
am a conservative man, whatever style of transactions I use I have been
doing it for decades. And suddenly UOB says it is "uncomfortable" with the
way I do my transactions? It doesn’t make logical sense at all.

I am also astonished that the bank representative seems to have such low
considerations of clients' interests in mind. How can we have adequate time of
responding to a sudden closure of account.

I have been given Singapore citizenship recently. And I have been doing
clean business with great reputation in this country and in many other
countries including China. It means my reputation and my records should be
highly credible. There is no reason at all to say that anything I do would make
the bank "uncomfortable".

It is appalling that my RM who has known me for 12 years do not have my

transactions "at his finger tips". This shows how lightly he is taking the whole
matter.

Till this time that I am emailing you, my RM has still not done anything
constructive and professional to improve my present situation. Probably, he is
still getting "some information to his finger tips". Which shows his lack of the
sense of professional duty. Which I must say, is hurtful to the relationship
between the bank and the clients.

The founder of the bank Mr Wee is someone whom many Singaporeans

including myself, would respect. We can see that he is a great person who is
fully aware of his duty as a banker. And he has been building healthy, sincere
and trustworthy relationships between clients and the bank.

— CHEAH Fah Loong

8 July 2020

Relevant Evidence on the Case of RM Dylan Chan

Re: the strange behavior of Ms Karen Head of Privilege Banking and Mr Nigel
Chua the Head of Private Banking.

This is the second letter I am sending to you to help in your investigation

regarding the matter of RM Dylan Chan.

After I have received the two letters from UOB regarding the closure of my two
accounts (appendix 1&2), I went up to UOB Privilege Banking Centre twice.

First time on 3rd July 2020 at 3:20pm. The incidence is briefly discussed in my
first letter to you yesterday. And the details should be recorded in your CCTV.

The second time was yesterday 7th July 2020 at 11am. The details of it
should also be seen in your CCTV.

But what I would like to alert you, is what I smelled fishy. Because when I first
entered the branch, there were no one at the counters. So very unusual.

Finally, someone called Dawn came out to receive me. And I asked a very
simple question: “So...is my account closed?"

Dawn said she will go in and check with “them" (I supposed it’s the head of
Privilege Banking Ms Karen).

She went in for such an impatiently long time that when she came back to the
counter, I said I don’t have much time, if my account is closed, give me the
cashier order for the whole amount of balance. If the account is not closed, I
will withdraw half of the amount I have in my account in cashier order.

I also told Dawn, from that day onwards, I will stop issuing cheques from my
UOB accounts.

However, if any cheques I have previously issued are bounced because you
have abruptly closed my account, I will get my lawyer to sue you big time.

Because your action has created a breach of trust between me and those who
have received my cheques.

Of which, strangely, Ms Dawn went in to convey the message to “them"

again.

But this is not the strangest part. The strangest part is when Dawn came out.
She said they are trying to call Nigel. But Nigel is in a meeting.

I don’t really care if Mr Nigel Chua is truly having a meeting or not at that time,
but what has Mr Nigel Chua got to do with this matter?

Mr Nigel Chua was the previous head of Privilege Banking and Reserve Suite.
Now he is no longer the head of these two departments. He is now the head
of Private Banking.

The office of Mr Nigel Chua is now located at the UOB headquarters.

Something tells me that the misconduct of RM Dylan Chan is not a superficial

one.

It may involve some top management of UOB.

I have beseeched MAS to do an in-depth investigation. I am totally willing and

happy to provide my first hand account as a client. And I will continue to
provide any evidence I can find.

— CHEAH Fah Loong

9 July 2020

I am writing this third letter of complaint against UOB, especially to show and
explain I am highly suspicious of Mr Nigel Chua, SVP of Private Banking (as I
have said in my second letter of complaint I submitted yesterday 8th July
2020)

On 2nd July Thursday afternoon, Mr Nigel Chua texted me to ask if I still have
the property in Yishun of which I answered yes (appendix 3.1).

He said my present loan is above 2.5% (which cannot be).

So I asked him what should I do, of which he offered to prepare a form for me
(appendix 3.2)

There are several reasons I felt fishy about him here:

1.
Nigel Chua has never in his whole acquaintance with me, since 2017, liked to
refinance any property for me.
I remember a couple of years ago, another banker from UOB offered to
refinance my house, of which Mr Nigel Chua said: "There are a lot of forms to
fill, you know.” From then I understood he doesn’t like to refinance for me
because he is not in that department and probably he doesn’t like colleagues
from another department of the same bank to be benefited.

2.
He came unprepared. How can my present loan be above 2.5%? It cannot be
possible. But being unprepared is not the usual style of Nigel Chua. It shows
his real purpose is not in helping me to refinance.

3.
Until today, Nigel Chua has not sent me any forms regarding refinancing. It is
a very unusual behavior of bankers who want to earn from my refinancing.

4.
Mr Nigel Chua has come to my Marina Bay Residences house many times to
cook for me.
It doesn’t take a banker to know that a condo in Marina Bay is many times
more expensive than a condo in Yishun.
Mr Nigel Chua did not ask to refinance my condo in Marina Bay, instead, he
asked to refinance my condo in Yishun. Isn’t it strange?

5.
Last but not least, Nigel asked if the property is under my name. What kind of
question is that?
The only logical conclusion I have is that Mr Nigel Chua is trying to do a
search on my name, my property and the banks I have in order to sabotage
me. Instigating others at the same time.

So while the RM Dylan Chan seemed to be the one who gave me trouble, I
believe it is Mr Nigel Chua behind the scene who instigated the whole thing.

I would fully cooperate with MAS with the investigation and provide further
proof of any findings.

9th July 2020

Cheah Fah Loong
16 July 2020

Re: Further Evidence of Unprofessional and Unethical Business Practice

of Mr Nigel Chua and Mr Dylan Chan

On 16th June 2017, Mr Nigel Chua recommended me to go to a shop at East

Coast Road Parisilk, because I needed to buy a camera.

Upon arrival, Mr Nigel Chua introduced me to the owner Andrew. Nigel said
Andrew has been his client for many years.

As I was going to pay for the camera, Nigel eavesdropped to me that he could
ask for a discount because he knew the cost price. The cost price was written
on the price tags in alphabets with a special formula.

I was very shocked in my heart.

How did Mr Nigel Chua know his clients' business secrets? Under what
circumstances did the business owner reveal his business secrets to him?

And worse, how could Nigel easily reveal the business secret of his long time
client to a third party (me)?

I found this very strange. I would even say unethical, unprofessional and a
betrayal.

I would say that this incident had created a deep impression in my mind. I
found it not safe to do so much business transactions with UOB and that’s
why our company's business account with UOB has been seldom used.

I also found it not safe to put too much cash in my personal high yield account.
I normally withdrew as cash to keep in my safe.

Most of the time, I change those cash into gold because it is easier for storage
and it appreciates.

But we have always been careful to make sure that the way we conduct
business is sensible, profitable and legal.

My business partner and I had even personally walked into IRAS to check if
what we do is legal. I have taken ACCA to make sure that we are not cheated
by accountants. We hired big four law firms and big four accounting firms to
advise us. We have a clear business flow chart but we will only show it to
authorized legal entities, so as not to compromise our business integrity.

Recently, UOB has been acting more and more strangely.

A few weeks ago, someone from UOB called me to ask what is the purpose of
a telegraphic transfer of SGD$3,000 to Malaysia? I answered: that’s for my
mother.

And the girl asked, for what purpose I sent that amount to my mother? I was
totally puzzled. Why do I send money to my mother? Don’t you give money to
your mother? Do you ask her how she use her money? And even if my mother
tells me how I use my money, do I need to tell you?

Following the threatening letter of UOB to close my personal accounts on 7th

July 2020, and my RM said he didn’t have the "uncomfortable transactions" at
his finger tips, he finally called me on 13th July 2020 in the evening at 17:32
hours, right after office hours (strange).

He asked me a series of questions which I found to be very suspicious.

For example, how is Lotusonwater Feng Shui Pte Ltd related to me? That’s
my company. He has been my RM for 12 years and he doesn’t know that I
own a very reputable company call Lotus on Water? All the service people at
the counters of Privileged Banking know that.

And for example, who is Mr Kan Ying Loong and how is he related to me?
Again, that is a simple question which you can find the answer simply by going
into ACRA. Mr Kan is my business partner for the longest of time.

And for example, who is Bullionstars Pte Ltd? Why did they pay me 890,000/-
. Billion Star is a company that buys and sells precious metal like gold and
silver. You cannot tell me you don’t know this company if you are in the
financial world. You can simply google it. And of course, the reason of the
money flowing in from them is because I invest in precious metal and sell it
back to them when I make the money.

And he asked me why did I give cheques to Mr Kan Ying Loong, which
reminds me of the silly phone call from UOB who ask me why did I send my
money to my mother? I can answer, but why should I let an RM know? Who I
give my money to and for what purpose is none of his business.

And Dylan Chan went on to ask me why my company pays me money? Well,
we submit our financial statements every year which contains profit and loss
report, assets and liabilities report, and cash flow report. Everything is clearly
stated for the authorities to inspect, also to inquire if necessary.

I know what are these money for. It’s normally remuneration, amount due to
director or claims. But again, why should I let him know.
Dylan went on to give such unbelievably unbelievable statements which
shows that he is simply lacking of legal and accounting knowledge. Such as
suggesting us to open another business entity to receive money from Lotus on
Water (which is already a business entity) and then pass the money to me.

While I complain his lack of professional knowledge, I would also question

what is his profession? Is this your job? Dylan doesn’t even do his job well.

For the 12 years as my RM, I have not seen him for more than 10 times, and
have not heard his voice for more than 15 times.

For the whole of 12 years, he only did his job as an RM to recommend and
sell me some financial products TWICE.

For such a lazy RM with a great deal of sloppy unprofessional knowledge and
illogical reasoning, now, why was he trying to do the job of an auditor and a
taxman?

Then I suddenly remember what Mr Nigel Chua did at the shop of Parisilk in
2017.

Are these bankers trying to steal my business and personal secrets to "sell"
them to someone else?

I find the behavior and professional integrity of Mr Nigel Chua and Mr Dylan
strangely suspicious.

Mr Nigel Chua and Dylan Chan consistently use the name of MAS and
Compliance department to ask me questions which are my business secrets
and personal privacy.

Have MAS and UOB Compliance made all these "requests" so that unethical
bankers like Nigel Chua can leak it to others? Or has bankers like Nigel Chua
and Dylan Chan made use of the name of MAS and Compliance department
(also with the authority to close my personal account abruptly) to fish out
secrets of my business in order to sell to others? Please clarify.

That would be a great harm done to businesses and also the healthy
trustworthy commercial operations of Singapore.

Please investigate. We can fully cooperating and willing to provide further

evidence we can find.

— Master Yun
7 August 2020

However, the following issues remain unexplained and unsettled:

1. The compliance issue of the elusive compliance department

We were told that the compliance department flagged and closed Mr Cheah’s
accounts unilaterally. While we are most willing to cooperate to make light of
what you do not understand, the immediate action of closing accounts without
checking with other departments and sounding out the client makes no sense
at all.

It would mean that the compliance department, as portrayed to us by Mr

Jimmy and Mr Chua, is the almighty with no regards for checks and balances,
throwing customer service and interests right out of the window.

If this were to be the protocol of how UOB works, you ought to inform all your
prestigious and private banking clients, whom we believe to have relatively
larger deposits and transactions, that their bank accounts are at the mercy of
the compliance department that sits in the ivory tower, and could be closed
without adequate notice.

The fact that this was never told to your clients, never told to Mr Cheah nor
impressed upon him all these years, constitutes a fallacy in your marketing
and mis-selling at the very least.

2. The compliance issue of the branches

That said, the discourse by Mr Jimmy that the compliance department took
matters into its own hands, is dubious at large.

What remains unexplained, the letters of account closure sent to Mr Cheah

are signed off by “PBFC” and “Main Branch”.

How could the compliance department issue letters directly to clients,

bypassing the channels, branches and relationship managers, but do it in their
name?

If the aforesaid is nothing but a norm, then there are serious loopholes in your
bank, that this compliance department really has some serious compliance
issues, as mentioned in point 1.

If not, that would mean people in branches were already aware of the account
closure, or even approved it, but never inform the client in advance, and
worse, feign ignorance when Mr Cheah was caught by surprise with just 2
working days to settle his accounts.
If the compliance matter is with UOB’s very own watchdog compliance
department, then we would escalate this matter to more higher authorities, as
we did so prior to meeting with Mr Jimmy and Mr Chua.

If the compliance matter is with the branches, then we hold the heads and
managers accountable, for their irresponsibility and lies.

3. Conduct of Dylan Chan and others

The nonchalant attitude, the irresponsive behavior, the utter lack of concern,
knowledge and logic, really begs one to wonder how an unprofessional like
Dylan Chan continues to be employed in a supposed professional bank like
UOB.

With or without prior knowledge of Mr Cheah’s account closure, and despite

Mr Cheah explicitly expressing his distress, Dylan did not act promptly. As a
representative of UOB to the client, the message conveyed via Dylan’s
existence is simple: Mr Cheah, please go, we don’t want you as a client.

The fact that Mr Cheah faced account closure with only 2 working days to
respond, notwithstanding the distress he had to go through, but Dylan is only
getting a slap on the wrist from his manager Mr Chua, is inappropriate. If the
compliance issue is not with the compliance department, or THE Group
Compliance, Dylan Chan should be facing compliance inquiry, appropriate to
the severity of account closure.

As mentioned, we did not escalate the matter initially at the bequest of Mr

Nigel Chua and Ms Low Ee Lin, whom Mr Cheah contacted to resolve the
matter. To which, they said to hold back our letters while they take care of it.
Yet, even by Tuesday 7th July 2020, none came back with updates.

The compliance issue at hand, really is why do they hold us back at giving
feedback through the proper channels? Is it in their intentions to see through
the closure of Mr Cheah’s accounts, with their tactic of delay?

4. Losses incurred

First, the sudden unilateral account closure alludes that Mr Cheah is

conducting dishonest dealings. We reserve the rights to pursue compensation
for this insult.

Second, with only 2 working days to resolve the matter in his own hands, to
ensure his issued cheques are honorable, with no help from Dylan, Nigel,
Karen, Low Ee Lin, Mr Cheah went through a distressing ordeal, most
unnecessarily. We reserve the rights to pursue compensation for this trauma.
Third, the presentation by Mr Jimmy in the attempt to explain the situation was
mostly lip service and offers no concrete explanations, resolutions and
compensations to Mr Cheah, hence the need for this letter. Further, with no
concrete penalty to the people involved, we call this adding injury to insult.

We look forward to concrete explanations, resolutions and compensations to

Mr Cheah.
15 August 2020

Sixth letter of complaint to MAS

UOB continue to making blunders by harassing clients with illegal requests,

Yesterday, 6th August 2020, a banker Eugene from UOB called me at

13:30hr.

He claimed himself calling from Privileged Banking department of UOB. In

other words, he was calling me regarding my personal account, as the person
Mr Cheah Fah Loong.

He asked me how much is my income, the turnover of my company

Lotusonwater Feng Shui Pte Ltd and Lotusonwater Pte Ltd, and the
percentage of my shareholding.

After several questions, Eugene requested from me my company audited

financial statements.

According to Singapore law, companies with turnover less than 10 million

SGD are exempted from audit for their financial report (Do they want to pay for
the audit fee?).

A company is an independent legal entity. My relationship with the bank is

Cheah Fah Loong (personal). How can a bank ask a person for the statement
of a company? It is neither the bank's right to request nor my legal right to
submit something that doesn’t belong to me.

UOB should know also that if I had given him my company financial
statements, the other shareholders of my company have the right to sue me.

I wonder if UOB bankers are so ignorant of the law, or is having illegal

intentions by requesting for documents that they have got no legal right to
request and I have no legal authority to provide.

Someone has to stop UOB from getting their clients into illegalities.

Is this banker Eugene having an intention to steal my company secret from my

company financial statements to sell it to bankers like Mr Nigel Chua who
leaks his client's company secrets to other people (please refer to my my forth
letter of complaint to MAS dated 16th July 2020)?

Someone has to stop UOB from leaking away clients' company secrets. This
is illegal and unethical.
UOB is becoming a dangerous bank to have banking relationships with.

Please investigate.
21 August 2020

Dear Mr Lee Kah Fai,

1. Unreasonable notice

UOB’s letter of account closure dated 23 June 2020 was only received on 3
July 2020, a Friday. The accounts were to be closed on 7 July 2020. There
was less than 2 working days to sort out matters with the bank. Between 23
June and 3 July, I was still on many occasions doing over-the-counter
transactions at the branches, neither the RM Dylan Ng nor the branch
managers notify me. How does UOB suppose a Privilege Banking client to
settle his accounts and issued cheques in just 2 working days?

2. Corrupted process of handling feedback

Upon receiving the unreasonable notice, I contacted UOB bankers RM Dylan

Ng, Nigel Chua and Low Ee Lin. Nigel Chua and Low Ee Lin said they would
look into the matter, and the latter even told me not to send in my emails as
she would sort things out. How is this a reliable and independent path of
feedback when UOB’s own bankers block clients from doing so? Where is the
internal system of checks and balances, when high-level bankers can just
have clients bypass the whole process, eroding transparency?

3. Evading responsibility and covering up

The above points, along with many others, were brought up to UOB
management in several emails, and to Jimmy Tay Chin Ming and Chua Chee
Teck in person on 21 July 2020. None were addressed! And the letter by
Chua Chee Teck on 12 August 2020 didn’t address any of the aforesaid
issues too. Why did Dylan Ng not inform about account closure matters once
letter was sent? Why was client left with 2 working days to scramble to sort
out matters? Why was client advised not to go through proper channels to
voice out matters? Account closure on unreasonable grounds is just one
matter, the perverted way of UOB handling the entire issue is the core topic.

4. Coercion into illegally submitting documents

With the threat of account closure, Chua Chee Teck sent another RM Eugene
Phua to get my company’s financial statements. My relationship with UOB is a
personal banking account. How is it right that he requires my company’s
financial statements, when I am not the sole shareholder? UOB does not have
the right, nor the legal grounds to ask for something like that. How is this a
right banking practice?
If UOB were at all upfront about these matters, there would not be a need to
raise the issue to MAS. Yet, their very limited replies sought to derail the
conversation and evade from answering the key issues. The conversation is
broken, a lot of lip service, bullying and covering up in this entire matter. Since
UOB cannot or unwilling to give the client a just explanation, I shall continue to
elevate the matter till reasonable compensation.

— Cheah