SINGAPORE - Singapore's central bank banned 10 financial institutions on Tuesday from selling structured products, saying the firms had sold notes linked to Lehman Brothers without ensuring their staff were properly trained.

The 10 financial institutions are DBS Group , UOB Kay Hian , OCBC Securities, ABN AMRO (Singapore Branch), Maybank Singapore, CIMB-GK Securities, Hong Leong Finance , DMG & Partners, Phillip Securities and Kim Eng Securities.

ABN, DBS, Maybank, DMG and UOB Kay Hian received the lightest ban of six months, while Hong Leong Finance was slapped with the heaviest penalty of two years, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in a statement.

Thousands of Singapore investors lost money last year after they bought risky derivatives linked to collapsed US investment bank Lehman that had been marketed as relatively safe alternatives to fixed deposits, sparking several protests in the tightly controlled city-state.

The problem also affected Hong Kong, Taiwan and Indonesia where investors expressed outrage that the bond-like products they bought were actually complex derivatives that led to huge losses for many of them.

According to MAS, the risk ratings assigned to some Lehman-linked investment products sold by the firms in Singapore "were inconsistent with risk warnings stated in the prospectus and pricing statements".

The central bank said several of the firms did not provide their sales people with accurate and complete information about the notes, or took insufficient steps to ensure staff were properly trained in the marketing and sale of the Lehman-linked notes.

According to MAS, nearly 10,000 people bought the Lehman-linked notes and financial institutions had compensated close to 4,000 of these investors.

UOB Kay Hian is a unit of United Overseas Bank , OCBC Securities is the stockbroking arm of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp , Maybank Singapore is part of Malayan Banking , while DMG is part-owned by Malaysia's OSK .

THE 10 FIs banned from selling new structured products are:

1. ABN Amro Bank Singapore Branch - Minimum 6 months

2. DBS Bank - Minimum 6 months

3. Maybank - Minimum 6 months

4. DMG & Partners Securities - Minimum 6 months

5. UOB Kay Hian - Minimum 6 months

6. CIMB-GK Securities - Minimum one year

7. Kim Eng Securities - Minimum one year

8. OCBC Securities - Minimum one year

9. Philip Securities - Minimum one year

10. Hong Leong Finance - Minimum two years