To Sum Up DBS' Services in One Word: Ridiculous
I have a Treasures account with DBS (SG). I mainly use its investment account for US stock trading. In March 2024, I gave an instruction to my RM (RM1) to transfer some of my US stocks in the account to the Direct Registration System (DRS). It is just a safer way to hold financial assets; all stocks in DRS are registered directly under my own name, not a street name. In mid April 2024, I gave RM1 another instruction for DRS transfer. This time, stocks of 3 companies were involved. Around a month later, I received a notification from the transfer agent, Computershare (Canada). The transfer was successful. However, I spotted something not quite right. A letter "g" has been missing from my name. In other words, my stocks are now registered not under my name. I informed my RM1 at once. We double checked the Transfer of Securities Form I had submitted and there were nothing wrong. My RM1 reassured me her colleagues in the securities department are fixing the problem. She also suggested I contact those companies directly to see if they could correct the spelling error on their sides. I followed her advice and, of the 3 companies, 2 of them were so kind that they rectified the errors within days. Now the only problem is with the third company. In their reply email, they told there were standard procedures for correcting the spelling, but it must be done through the stock broker who had initiated the DRS transfer. And it must be done within two months of the transfer. I immediately forwarded the company's reply email to RM1. Then................. nothing happened. After waiting for four whole months, the missing letter "g" in my name was still missing. I sent both emails and WhatsApp messages to RM1. Guess what? They were all ignored! There were no replies, no follow-ups, no compensations and no nothing. I simply lost contact with RM1. Still remember the gentleman in the secruities department? I sent him an email in September 2024 telling him of my situation. I also asked him if there were anything I could do on my side. Exactly the same things happened. I was once again ignored. No reply, no nothing! At last, I made a call to DBS' service hotline asking them what on earth was happening. The next day, the gentleman in the securities department, at last, gave me a reply email. However, he mentioned nothing about the DRS transfer. He just informed me I would have a new RM (RM2). Full stop. The new RM2 called me the next morning. She took a lot of information from me and promised an internal investigation. Then.............., as usual, nothing happened. The missing letter "g" is still missing. The most unthinkable thing happened several days after the phone call. RM2 sent me an email asking me if I knew who the broker was. Gosh! If a bank offers US stock accounts to its clients, it either is a US stoke broker itself or employs a broker in the US to execute its clients' orders. As far as I know, most banks in Asia belong to the latter. DBS knows better who the broker is than I do. Around three weeks ago, RM2 sent me an email. There were just a few lines. The following is what she wrote: "Quote " Please refer to the following: Custodian has contacted their representative at Computershares as the statement is now issued in the claimant's name, Computershare will communicate only with the claimant. End client to contact Computershare to include the letter "g" in the middle name "XXXX," so that the correct client's name is reflected in the DRS statement. "Quote Ends" Perhaps, it is my poor English standard or she was writing in Singlish (I am not a Singaporean). I must admit I don't quite understand what she meant. My guess is she would like me to contact the broker / custodian myself. The problem is I do not know the broker's contact information and DBS never lets me know. Moreover, the broker does not have any of my personal details. There is no way for them to verify my identity even though I coudl come into contact with them. In short, only DBS can contact the broker and instructi them to initiate the rectification procedure. It seems that RM2 still didn't understand why I had forwared the third company's reply email to RM1 at once. Because there were standard procedures through which the broker / custodian could contact Computershare to correct the mistake. I was in no position to instruct the broker / cutodian to do anything, only DBS could. More importantly, there was a time limit of two months. Now, DBS wants me to contact Computershare directly because they missed the deadline. When I asked RM2 to explain. The same things happened. Ignored. No reply, no explanation, no help, no nothing. I have given up any hopes from DBS. All I want is getting back my stocks. In fact, there is a very simple way. Just initiate another transfer of the stock back to my investment account.