Interest Scheme falls under under PART IV - SHARES, DEBENTURES AND CHARGES
DIVISION 5 - INTERESTS OTHER THAN SHARES, DEBENTURES, ETC under the Companies Act 1965 ("Division 5"). You may further refer to S84 of Companies Act 1965 [/COLOR] for the definition of "Interest" referred to in "Interest Scheme". Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia ("SSM") is the regulatory body which regulates the above legislation.

In order for a company to offer interest for the subscription to public they must first fulfill the requirement set-forth by Division 5 as well as the Guidelines of SSM for the schemes (which can be found on their website). In short the above are basically mechanisms to ensure the protection of the investors who consist of the general pubic.

A Trust Company does not require to be registered under the Securities Commission for the simple reason as it does not fall under their jurisdiction but instead of SSM's as mentioned above. The requirement of the appointment of a Trustee is described under S87 of the Companies Act 1965 and the provisions of the Policy Guidelines respectively issued by SSM. The Trustee serves as a watchdog for SSM in monitoring and reporting any breaches to which a company offering interest may have committed.

As such, u should firstly get hold of the prospectus of ICT Zone which describes the terms of the said offering if you are interested. The excerpts and advertising materials are merely an invitation to treat.

Another tip is that SSM provides for the list of Approved Schemes in their website to ensure that the company you wish to invest in has legitimately registered its scheme.







This post has been edited by mintorox: Nov 16 2011, 09:45 PM

I agree with you about not being naive. Reading and understanding is of utmost importance. Therefore assuming that each and every company which conducts an Interest Scheme is stupid and is set up to fool average citizen is incorrect without firstly understand the concept and mechanism.

First and foremost find out who are the regulators for such investments. If it falls under SC, check their website to confirm that such investments has been approved. If it falls under SSM as in the above scenario, you can check their website to confirm whether it has been approved. Further example, if it falls under Co-operatives (Koperasi), you would refer to Suruhanjaya Koperasi Malaysia instead for such confirmation. If its under the Exchange Act then you would have to refer to Bank Negara and so on... That is how administration of law works. In layman terms, if there is a fire at your house, you will call the fireman. If there is a brawl outside your house, you will call the police. Same goes for regulators. It depends to which jurisdiction you fall under.

Please understand that SSM's powers and obligations are not restricted to just registrations of companies. They are a regulatory body as mentioned in my previous post to administer the Companies Act 1965 (in contrary to Security Commission which administer the Capital Market and Service Act 2007 which involves Bonds, Unit Trust, Reits etc. Please distinguish) . Under this legislation, it provides for the issuance of interest which can be offered to the public for subscription provided that it meets the requirement of the Act as well as the guideline of SSM.

For more informoation, you can contact SSM. You could even contact Ismail Sabri who is the Minister of Domestic Trade, Co-Operatives & Consumerism since SSM are under their directive.

All companies operating schemes under the Companies Act must be a Berhad Company. Its a requirement set forth by SSM and not the Company. therefore assuming they are new boys playing new trick might be abit hard


As for a Trust Company's, they are empowered under Section 8 (1) namely subsection (g) of the Trust Companies Act 1949 (http://www.agc.gov.my/Akta/Vol.%202/Act%20100.pdf)

However they would have to follow the guidelines set forth by and in accordance with the jurisdictions of respective regulators