Ang Kian Tiong v DBS Bank Ltd.

Case Significance

Ang Kian Tiong v DBS Bank Ltd [2024] SGHC 292 was decided in the General Division of the High Court on 13 November 2024 by Christopher Tan JC in Originating Application No 650 of 2024. The claimant, Ang Kian Tiong, is a customer of DBS Bank Ltd under the bank's Treasures Private Client division, and sought various declarations against the bank in respect of bonds issued by a Singapore-incorporated company, Innovate Capital Pte Ltd (the "Issuer"). Christopher Tan JC dismissed the claimant's application and set out his reasons. The judgment records that in or around December 2017 the Issuer issued a series of US$6.00 per cent guaranteed convertible bonds, constituted under a trust deed in which the guarantor was PT Bumi Resources Tbk, the trustee was Madison Pacific Trust Limited, and the principal paying agent and conversion agent was the Bank of New York Mellon, London Branch; the bonds were cleared through Euroclear Bank, SA/NV or Clearstream Banking, SA, with DBS Bank Ltd being a direct participant of Clearstream. The case concerned credit and security in relation to bonds and assignment.