It's always been PNB's trademark to allocate a portion for future distributions. I guess that's why they can give pretty much consistent returns both in good and bad times....

I think it's easy for people on the outside to I guess feel that way but those who have or are currently in the finance industry would know how difficult it is to chase for yields. Personally I wouldn't want to be in the fund manager's or investment officer's position.

Such a huge fund to chase yield + ensure that capital is somewhat "protected" due to RM1 structure + ensure enough buffer to carry fwd... It's not as easy as many thing

This post has been edited by hyelbaine: Mar 19 2014, 04:58 PM

I think people are confused with this carry forward thingy. 2.2 sen carried forward to the next financial year does not translate into an absolute amount. Yes such funds retain its intrinsic RM1 value but every time dividends are disbursed, the unit in circulation "increases" due to the fact that all dividends are reinvested automatically into an account holder's account.

So, 6.6 cents for 2013 may cost PNB/ASNB say 950million but to have the same 6.6 cents for 2014 when the fund has somehow "organically" grown due to dividends/compounding effect may cost more than 1billion. That's why I believe that when say 2.2 cents is carried forward, it does not absolutely translate 1 to 1.

Also, it isn't necessary that when a portion of the returns is carried forward to the following year, it'll be used in that particular year. PNB/ASNB is known for it's so called mantra of "consistent and competitive" returns thingy it may have been allocated to a "pool" that will be used when the next economic cycle comes into play.

Given that economic cycles "seem" to come in 7 to 10 year cycles and the last one was the great financial crisis of 2008, I'm of the opinion that whatever savings brought forward could easily be used up during an economic downturn given the fact that the fund sizes are huge (mostly in billions) and also the fact that whatever happens behind the scenes, PNB/ASNB is required to honour the RM1 valuation even IF the actual NAV for funds during an economic crisis may actually be less than RM1.

Just my 2 cents...

Or you could just transfer it online No forms, queues and what not

I have been following their Twitter account and it seems that even today their branches are all packed. Heard that there were more than 2000 people at stadium merdeka today and most were encouraged to open accounts

IINM I read on ASNB's FB page that the program is still ongoing but the relevant "quota" for those eligible for the scheme is reducing and should be fully taken up in a year or so.

Here you go https://www.facebook.com/pages/Amanah-Saham...413717745430066

Actually when i think about it.. If you look at all of ASNB's recent promo/advertisement on their website or in newspaper, you would find their social media handles for FB, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram

Yeap, looks like it lar

This part I have to agree. Better not to spend so much on something that gets thrown away into tong sampah in the end

Agreed. Most people don't realize this and I've never been advised as such when those PM agents approach me. If the SC is so high than makes earning a profit on your investments so much harder as the yield required to cover the 5.5% SC is even greater.

p/s: Also numerous times I've caught PM agents who approach me but don't have license

IINM this is the first time ever that they have offered a unit split exercise for their funds. Looks like the increase in "new money" coming in from the variable price funds (heard from some colleagues in the finance industry that YTD they've already sold RM1 billion in variable price funds) is seeing them go all out in their promotions.

This also means that PNB are "abiding" by the rules to limit the growth/size of fixed priced funds which the SC deems poses a systemic-risk to the local equity market. Sorry if that means deflating some of you who have been hoping for new/increase in fixed priced funds.

I think many still struggle to understand that UT is for medium to long term goals only. Anything less than 3 years you're really better off in equities for sure. And ISC or redemption charge (either one normally not both) is common in UT, the only thing that differs is the % rate being charged.

Also, UT works best using the dollar cost averaging (DCA) methodology rather than lump-sum style of investments. That's why its investment time horizon is classified as medium to long term. Expect the service charges to come down once the competition heats up and mind you, if you say 5% is high... Check around the other UT providers and you will see that 5% isn't the highest in the market.

As a bumi, I myself am quite surprised by this. I've always thought it would take them at least a year to break RM1b target as cost of living isn't very cheap lately and is likely to increase. On the flip side, if all those ppl who have maxed out their ASB also invested in ASB2, that number could easily double or even triple in a very short time.

I guess they too are adopting the wait and see attitude if it's worth transferring from ASB/AS1M/ASM/ASD/ASW to ASB2.


As I said previously, some of my friends in the industry said they've breached the RM1 billion mark for their variable priced funds and are working hard to ensure the returns are consistent and competitive. There's a few months left this year but it would be a miracle if they breach RM2 billion but for sure, next year their target sure RM2 billion and all/any promotions will be geared towards their variable priced funds

This post has been edited by hyelbaine: Aug 12 2014, 12:31 PM

True. I've realised most of the time, CIMB always "system offline" punya

On the fixed priced fund it's looking more and more likely. To be fair to them, unless the govt overrules BNM and SC, there's no way they're going to get the approval to launch new or increase existing size of fixed priced funds.

On the returns thingy, I normally get the "speech" from CIMB and Maybank but not when I go to ASNB. ASNB sales people sell by the book... which is why I think they don't do as well as the other sales ppl in banks. Takut kena saman by SC maybe

But most of the time they are lying punya and being an ex-banker, it's easy to know

Everytime I go to CIMB they always say system is offline so I will directly call ASNB or Tweet them with CIMB twitter handle included. Normally ASNB will reply they have no reports of system issue and voila not long after that system "online" again.

Amazing how social media works hehehehehhe

This post has been edited by hyelbaine: Aug 12 2014, 04:32 PM

Do it, I do it all the time and I see sometimes other people do it too

I always do that and when those stupid MLM people claim they have "programs" that are approved by BNM, I'll quote BNM too. Always handy to keep these regulator Twitter handles nearby (BNM, SC, EPF, etc2...) even though not all of them are active just to "scare" them

Sharing is caring maaa

True that. Far too many people under estimate the effort required to pay out dividends when the account holder base is so large. It's like people who complain why can't EPF pay as much dividends consistently like ASB but when you think about the size difference between the 2 funds, you'll understand why.

A local bourse at historical highs does not translate automatically to higher dividends, if that is the case than anyone could be a fund manager. It all depends on your position in a particular equity/security and also your costs.

I always say that all those numerous year's worth of carry forward earnings could easily be used up in a space of a year or 2 should the local and world economy tank due to the sheer size of a fund and also the requirement to maintain/honor the RM1 value of each unit.

It's a trade off between occasional high returns vs consistent competitive returns so what one does with their money in that case is up to them

Wow, where did you get this? I went to their website and didn't find it. I have watched the music video featuring those 2 people, not bad and quite catchy actually how they changed the original song Kalau Aku Kaya to Kalau Nak Berjaya

Assuming that's 25 working days a month, 1 billion in 4 months means that's about 10 million a day

True. Most bumi's are pretty risk averse and are very "herd-mentality" like when it comes to money. One of the many reasons why they fall so easily for MLM scams


It's getting very top'ish if you ask me. Many continue saying that P/E ratios are still nowhere near the 97/98 levels but given where the local bourse is just 6 months ago to where it is now, looking at the economic indicators where growth/expansion isn't equally distributed, I'm worried. Then again that's just me

Years like this shows that UT will struggle to beat yields of those trading individually but that's a whole other discussion to get into. You'd probably get better yields from an index-tracking fund rather than a growth fund