Meshio.com

Warning: Self-Promotional Message Ahead ;-)

I am pleased to announce that The Guide to Smart Insurance Planning is now available in hard copy. It’s priced at RM29.90 and is available in bookstores.

I would like to thank Mr Goh and his professional publication team over at Leeds Publications for taking the risk of publishing this book and not holding me responsible for the sales of the book. And also to Ms Ammie who’d helped me proof-read the book for the N-th time. Also to colleagues who’d generiously shared their knowledge and experiences. And to readers who’d been stalking this blog, your feedback has been much appreciated and taken into account.

I will also be at the National Library this Saturday (28th Feb) from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, attending a writer’s workshop organized jointly by MPH and the National Library to promote the book.

You can also purchase this book directly from Meshio.com in 2 simple steps:

Step 1: Make payment of RM29.90 to any of the following bank accounts:

i) Maybank2U (Account Number: 5124-4605-2597)
ii) Public Bank (Account Number: 3144-3269-21)
iii) Standard Chartered (Account Number: 6201-2070-5980)
iv) CIMB (Account Number: 1277-0000-5520-55)
v) Al-Rajhi Bank (Account Number: 12100-7061135053)

Step 2: Send me an email with your details below:

Name:
Shipping Address (for West Malaysia Only):

I’ll be absorbing all shipping fees, until notice of a petrol price hike.

I hope this book will help you understand better the need to protect yourself and your loved ones from unforeseen circumstances, and also to ensure that you’ve not neglected some of the most important coverages you must have in your personal risk management portfolio.

If you’ve already gotten a copy at the bookstore or if you’d bought the online edition of this book, I would like to thank you for the support!

About the Credit Bureau

The Credit Bureau in Malaysia is established under the Central Bank of Malaysia Act 1958. It has been in operation since 1982. Like all other credit bureau in the world, the Credit Bureau essentially collects credit information on borrowers from lending institutions and furnishes the credit information collected back to the institutions in the form of credit report via an on-line system known as Central Credit Reference Information System (CCRIS).

What’s the role of the Credit Bureau?

The Credit Bureau plays an important role in the area of credit risk management and the promotion of a sound credit culture in the financial system of the country. It is recognised globally that a matured and developed financial sector must have effective and efficient systems to manage credit risks in order to sustain the financial needs of the government, industry and consumers.

The existence of a credit bureau makes it easier for financial institutions to make informed and responsible lending decisions in a more timely manner. Checking with the credit bureau would also help the financial institutions to mitigate any possibility of serious problems such as fraud cases.

Who could request for the Credit Rating Report?

According to BNM, here are the list of entities:

* Financial institutions upon any credit facility application;
* Any individual for his own credit report; and
* Any company for its own credit report.

Application for credit report for individual and company could only be made once in 12 months from the last date of request.

What is the Credit Report being used for?

The credit report is used by the financial institutions as one of the ways to make assessment on the credit facility application. The financial institution is required to inform the applicant, in writing that a credit check is to be conducted under the applicant’s name and the credit facility application will be reported to the Credit Bureau. Reference to the Credit Bureau will be made by the financial institutions periodically to obtain updates on an existing borrower.

Sample of a Central Credit Reference Information System (CCRIS) report.

The information contained in the credit report is entirely factual and historical. The Credit Bureau does not express any opinion about the information it supplies in the credit report. Different financial institutions employ different lending policies and attach varying degrees of importance to the details given in the credit report. Lending decisions depend on the risk evaluation by the financial institutions. Using the same information from the credit report and other sources, one lender may approve an application while another may not.

How to obtain your Credit Report?

The credit report can be obtained from Bank Negara Malaysia at no cost by following the steps below:

Request by individual

1) If you are from the Klang Valley, you may obtain the credit report from the Customer Service Centre, Laman Informasi Nasihat dan Khidmat (LINK) of Bank Negara Malaysia, Head Office at the following address:

LINK
Jabatan Komunikasi Korporat
Tingkat Bawah, Blok D
Bank Negara Malaysia
Jalan Dato’ Onn
50480 Kuala Lumpur

LINK operates daily from Monday to Friday, 9.00 am – 5.00 pm (including lunch time ) except for public holidays .

Please bring along your MyKad and any other supporting documents that can verify your identity such as your driving licence or passport. The credit report will be given to you during the visit.

2) If you are from outside of Klang Valley, you may apply for the credit report by completing and sending us the following:

Please complete and send us the following:

* Credit Report Request Form (CRR);
* Loan Declaration Form;
* A clear photocopy of your MyKad (both sides); and
* Any combination of two other documents (with your name and address stated clearly on each copy) from the following:
* Driving licence;
* Passport;
* Water bill;
* Electricity bill; or
* Telephone bill.

However, if the above documents are not available, you may provide alternative documents such as:

* Bank account statement;
* Credit card statement; or
* EPF statement.

The Credit Report Request Form and Loan Declaration Form are available either by:-

* Click here to download the form [PDF, 26K]; or
* by requesting it from any of the Bank Negara Malaysia branches (Johor Bahru, Kuala Terengganu, Pulau Pinang, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching). Click here [PDF, 10K] for list of branches.

Please mail or fax the completed forms and supporting documents to BNMTELELINK, Bank Negara Malaysia at:

BNMTELELINK
Jabatan Komunikasi Korporat
Bank Negara Malaysia
Jalan Dato’ Onn
P.O Box 10922
50929 Kuala Lumpur
Fax No: +603 2174 1515

For more options, visit this link: Obtaining Your Credit Report

How to dispute your Credit Report information?

If you have a reason to believe that a copy of the credit report from Bank Negara Malaysia is inaccurate, you are advised to liaise directly first with the respective financial institution for clarification and update. The financial institution must immediately rectify any inaccurate or incomplete information by sending the amendment(s) to the Credit Bureau to reflect the latest credit position of the borrower.

In the event that you are not satisfied with the explanation given by the financial institution, you may request for data review from Bank Negara Malaysia.

Request for Data Review (RDR) form can be downloaded here [PDF, 23K]. Please identify disputed items in the credit report and explain why the information is disputed.

* For personal collection, please complete and submit the RDR form at LINK;
* If you are from outside of Klang Valley, you can submit the completed RDR form to the following:

BNMTELELINK
Jabatan Komunikasi Korporat
Bank Negara Malaysia
P.O Box 10922
50929 Kuala Lumpur
Fax No: 03-21741515

The Credit Bureau will investigate and notify the financial institution that had provided the disputed information together with all relevant data. The investigation and remedial process will normally take about a month to be completed. You will be notified of the outcome of the investigation. In the event that the disputed information is confirmed accurate, you are advised to refer the matter to the respective financial institution.

Source: Bank Negara Malaysia

I am not sure how many of you lined up for the 1 billion units of ASW 2020 this morning, but unlike previous years, these hot bananas were still selling after lunch hour. Reader LWY who camped at the POS office since 7:50am claimed that it was sold out at 2:00 pm.

Here’s a look at another one of Permodalan Nasional Berhad’s fund- the Amanah Saham Nasional 3’s track record:

ASN3’s return for 2002 – 6.00%
ASN3’s return for 2003 – 7.00%
ASN3’s return for 2004 – 7.50%
ASN3’s return for 2005 – 7.00%
ASN3’s return for 2006 – 6.30%
ASN3’s return for 2007 – 8.00%

I’ve had this fund since I was in high school… and if I knew it would give such returns, I would have ‘bought-in’ with all my ang-pow money.

International ratings agency Fitch downgraded Malaysia from “Positive” to “Stable”, citing the impact of lower oil & commodities prices, and deteriorating demand on electronic exports.

I got a feeling that it could also be due to the recently appointed Finance Minister.

On another note, Fitch also downgraded South Korea from “stable” to “negative”, due to the impact of the global financial crisis. South Korea’s Won has also been listed as Asia’s worst-performing currency this year.

Via ChannelNewsAsia.com

PENANG, Malaysia : Weekend elections that have reshaped Malaysia’s political landscape will reverberate in the stock market and could dampen investor confidence, economists said Sunday.

Massive defections by the small but economically dominant Chinese community and once loyalist minority Indians have highlighted resentment towards the Malay-led government’s economic policies, they said.

The Barisan Nasional coalition, led by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) failed to win a two-thirds majority in parliament for the first time in four decades.

It also lost control of four states, including the technology hub of Penang, to a resurgent opposition in Saturday’s polls.

Analysts said that although the government also suffered a rejection from the Muslim Malays who form its bedrock, investors may be concerned that the results could trigger political and racial instability.

“Fund managers will be concerned with the racial divide,” Chua Hak Bin, a Singapore-based economist with Citigroup told AFP.

“With the Chinese and Indians voting for the opposition, you raise the question if Malaysia’s fundamentals are intact and whether there will be racial violence even though the Malays also voted for the opposition,” he said.

Malaysia’s minorities are concerned over rising “Islamisation” and angry over the government’s refusal to abandon positive discrimination policies that give Malays advantages in education, housing and business.

Chua said the “shocking” election results could keep investors at bay for the next three months.

“The polls outcome has rattled investors. There will doubts raised whether the development projects under the previous state governments will continue. The political shake-up could affect projects and companies,” he said.

In the run-up to the elections, the Barisan Nasional launched a series of big-spending economic development plans touted as bringing tens of billions of dollars in investment and infrastructure to Malaysia’s regions.

Chua said the fall of Penang, Malaysia’s “Silicon Valley” which is home to many high-tech firms and the only state dominated by ethnic Chinese, could affect equity prices.

“It could also have an impact on billion-dollar projects in Penang, including the second bridge crossing,” he said.

Wan Suhaimi Saidie, economist with Kenanga Investment Bank, said there could be a drop in share prices when the bourse opens on Monday.

“Some investors may shift their position when trading opens on Monday while others may take to the sidelines. But I think it will just be temporary,” he said.

Wan Suhaimi said that with a strong new opposition, the government could hopefully fine-tune its investment policies to woo overseas funds.

But Chua said that Malaysia’s long-term political prospects were in the balance, amid uncertainty over the future of Abdullah who is facing calls to resign.

“The election speaks for itself. It shows there is no confidence in his leadership. I will not be surprised if he steps aside,” he said.

“They (investors) will not come in aggressively and we will see the Malaysian bourse remain marginalised vis-a-vis other regional bourses.”

Kaladher Govindan, head of research at TA Securities, tipped the bourse to fall Monday and said that in the short-term it would suffer from fears over looming instability.

“My gut feeling is it will fall sharply. It is due to concerns of political uncertainties and whether there will be unrest. But it will not crash,” he said. – AFP/ch

Wait a minute, who is this Chua Hak Bin dude? I totally disagree with his comments on the racial divide. I have not seen Malaysians united this way in my 28-years living in Malaysia, united against a government that has failed to deliver every one of its promises made in the previous election.

Yes, the Malaysia bourse will definitely take a hit come Monday, 10th of March. And all this talk of dampened confidence and foreign investors getting worried etc is just groundless without actually really looking at the real root of the changing political landscape. Yes, big projects might come to a halt, companies might need to rethink their existing policies. But people has had enough of unaccountability, intransparency and cronism. If the drop in equity price is the price to pay, the price tag would seem well worth it. If the new State Governments are sincere in delivering their manifestos, what is a few hundred points southwards for KLCI?

If there’s one word to describe the moods of average Malaysian’s like myself, it’s “hopeful”.

Another hike on cigarette tax. I guess sales for Gudang Garam is going to take a significant hike too!

“This huge tax hike, which is eight times the level of inflation, will no doubt further encourage consumers to down-trade to illegal and exceptionally low-priced cigarettes.”

An analyst at TA Securities said: “Such increases usually happen during the budget presentation. I didn’t expect it to be in-between budgets.”

The Star Online

A different form of insiders…

Allegations that Hextar Holdings Bhd inflated its revenue may have led to the pesticide maker’s decision to scrap its listing, a source said. The company was also involved in the sale of illegal pesticides, according to a letter that was sent to the Securities Commission (SC), the source said. The anonymous letter tipped off SC officials who called Hextar officials for a meeting a few weeks ago.

The company then scrapped its listing on June 20, a day before the shares were due to be traded. “It showed step by step how they did it. It was so detailed that it was definitely an insider blowing the whistle,” said the source who could not be identified due to company policy. Hextar chairman and managing director Datuk Ong Soon Ho said he is unaware of such a letter.

Business Times

In an unrelated news about personal finance, one of the world’s largest financial services company is paying USD 105.3 million for their latest branding campaign.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer on the Naming-rights Agreement…

The financial services company reached a 20-year naming-rights agreement, and although terms weren’t disclosed, Prudential will reportedly pay $105.3 million to put its name on the new building, which is set to open in time for the 2007-08 season.

That’s like a whopping USD 5 millon a year. There has got to be a better way to spend those marketing dollars…

I guess EPF is quite serious about the definition of the term “maturity”.

KWSP on the penalties of fraudulent withdrawal…

One member was jailed and fined RM2,000 while one member was fined RM3,000 or 2 months imprisonment. Two of them were slapped with a RM2,000 fine or a 2-month jail term. The fifth member was fined RM2,000 or a 1-month jail term. All five paid their fines.

For the record, those found guilty under the EPF Act 1991 are liable to a maximum jail sentence of three years, or a maximum fine of RM10,000, or both.

“It is most unfortunate that some members resort to fraudulent means to withdraw their savings. It is even sadder when some of them are willing to pay part of their own hard-earned savings to unscrupulous third parties. Members should realise that they are not cheating the EPF of any money; they are only cheating themselves,” added Puan Rusma.

Find out more about what’s coming up in the 2006 Financial Expo:

http://www.fpam.org.my/finex06/

There should be some interesting workshops for the public to gain more information about where the personal finance industry is heading.

If you are serious about managing your money, make it a point to visit the Expo at the Mid Valley Convention Centre…and of course, you can do your shopping afterwards.