Weigh suggestions on buy-in market against potential for abuse

I REFER to the commentary by R Sivanithy ("Time to rethink the need for buying-in", BT, Oct 30) and letters from Vincent Khoo ("Let remisiers buy-in for clients who short-sell by mistake", Nov 4) and Albert Fong Say Kim ("Time to open up buying-in market", Nov 11).

The buy-in process is not unique to the Singapore market. The purpose of the buy-in market is to address settlement failures and is practised in most other major markets including Hong Kong and the United States.

Circumstances which lead to the need for a buy-in vary and are not necessarily linked to short-selling alone. Human errors or delayed "timely receipt of instructions" are often the main causes. The total amount represents only 0.0151 per cent of daily turnover, which is negligible.