Morgan Stanley has reached a $20 million agreement in Singapore with investors over the sale of rigged financial products.

Morgan Stanley has reached a $20 million agreement in Singapore with investors over the sale of rigged financial products, according to the Straits Times (of Singapore) publication.

The case had been between the US-listed firm and Singapore Pinnacle Notes investors. The ST report said terms of the settlement, reached on Sept 9, were made public after the investors' lawyers filed papers in the US federal court in New York last Friday, seeking approval for the agreement.

Morgan Stanley declined to comment to this publication.

As the case has been certified as a class action, some 3,000 to 5,000 retail investors in Singapore who bought Pinnacle Performance Notes series 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9 and 10 between Jan 1, 2006, and Dec 31, 2010, may be eligible for restitution. This includes those who received partial compensation through the Singapore-administered Financial Industry Disputes Resolution Centre, the ST report said.

After the Notes were rendered nearly worthless when the underlying collateral became insolvent, some investors received partial payments from the distributors and brokers in Singapore that sold the Notes for Morgan Stanley, it said.

US law firm Kirby McInerney, representing more than 200 Singapore investors, said the US$20 million settlement "represents a substantial portion of the remaining amount that could have been recovered for the class", the report added.