By DAWN TAY

IT HAS been a difficult year personally for Mr Seah Seng Choon. The executive director of the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) had to cope with the loss of his wife to breast cancer three months ago.

Yet, when contacted for the highlights of his year, he still summed up this year as professionally 'satisfying'.

He singled out the fact that 'the Government (had) accepted the recommendation to revise the Consumer Protection Fair Trading Act to include financial services (such as banking and insurance)'. He said that the decision would benefit consumers.

The proposed revisions, yet to be implemented, were proposed by a task force jointly led by Case and the Trade and Industry Ministry.

As for Case, Mr Seah said he was pleased that the number of cases handled this year has increased.

'We dealt with more than 20,000 cases and helped 60 to 70 per cent find some degree of resolution,' he said.

Overall, the financial crisis has affected large numbers of investors. Case came to the aid of Singaporean investors hit by the Lehman minibonds and DBS High Notes saga, advising them on ways to seek redress. Seeking redress for affected investors will be the top issue for the year ahead, Mr Seah said.

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