Case Studies

A helpful dispute resolution method apart from legal proceeding

Current Account

Mr. Lee is a senior banker specializing in consumer banking.  One day when Mr. Lee was managing his personal bank accounts in Bank B via internet banking, he discovered that several hundred thousand dollars had been withdrawn from one of his accounts by way of a cheque made payable to a person unknown to him. In the course of tracing what happened, Mr. Lee found out that one of his cheques had been stolen. Mr. Lee reported the matter to the Police and Bank B. The Police made an arrest a few days after the incident was reported to them.

Mr. Lee tried to negotiate directly with Bank B in claiming his loss. Bank B was of the view that Mr. Lee was responsible for the loss as he had a duty to keep his cheques in a safe place. Bank B was also of the view that Mr. Lee had failed to immediately report to them to stop payment when he found out that his cheque had been stolen. Mr. Lee was of the view that Bank B should verify the signature on the cheque and notify the account holder before honouring a cheque paying out such a big sum of money. Mr. Lee also escalated the case to Bank B’s Head Office in order to give the person-in-charge pressure to settle the dispute.  Bank B offered to pay Mr. Lee part of his loss to settle the matter but Mr. Lee rejected the offer. Mr. Lee made an application for mediation at the FDRC.

The mediator put in great effort to assist both Mr. Lee and Bank B to focus on their interests and facilitated the two parties in generating possible settlement options. At the mediation, the two parties agreed to settle the matter. Both parties appreciated the mediator’s efforts and persistence in exploring options and helping them resolve their dispute.

 

(The case studies are based on actual FDRC cases. Various information including names of claimants, financial institutions and their staff, actual claim and settlement amounts have been altered to protect confidentiality of parties.)

 

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