hi guys...actually really interested.

What are the cons? got some kind of management fee? got what kind of fee charges?

i think anything that offers better than malaysian 3.7% either short term (1yr) or long term is a good risk to take. risk however since this is fix deposit we are talking about, should be minimal.

Cannot say it is bad or good, it depends on situation and individual financially as well as needs. If you treat it as speculation like share or short term speculation, surely it is not the way to do it instead one should treat it as to protect/hedge against ringgit depreciation which in the mean time get some extra yield.

For example, I am going to send my children to overseas studying in few years time (let say Australia), instead of save in ringgit FD (since no stock or UT anymore, needs to be secured) that yield only 3.7%, I can opt to convert first to AUD then put in AUD FD that yield 6.25%. When my children needs it time, I can just straight away take out the FD in AUD and do a AUD remittance to pay their college fee there.

after several years
Three scenario:
1: AUD appreaciate against ringgit - I save more while getting more yield from it.
2. Exchange stay at same - at least I get better yield for several years already about 2.5% compound interest more.
3. AUD depreciate against ringgit - At least I don't have to fork out more although I lose a bit, but children education fee is more and less secure.

You gain 2/3 chance in this way. But bare in mind, you must at least know that your invested currency is strong and the particular country's economy is healthy which provide strong support to its currency.

In this way, I won't need to worry about ringgit depreciation in the future that happened like 97 that a lot of parent suddenly found their saving previous is enough for their chidlren education overseas suddenly with ringgit depreciation then struggling to find extra money to fund their children, some even has to cancel their plan to study abroad at that time due to ringgit depreciation.

I have put money in NZD FD from HLB a year ago at bank sell rate of MYR2.3/NZD ... now the bank buy rate is about 2.5. The interest I was promised was 7.1%. I checked the other day after consideration of the currency exchange, I have gained 12% per annum.

All I have to say is that, you have to buy in at the right time, not simply buy ... for example NZD and AUS now are so high, if you expect it will still grow, then you can go ahead with it, else ... don't buy when it's high.

Furthermore, always have to consider the buy and sell rate in your calculation.

I don't know about local bank, but those foreign banks like Citi, Standard Chartered, OCBC etc, you don't need to convert back, you can auto-renew it until whenever you wish, be it 1 month ot 2 months or 1 year.

Therefore, it is a place for one to diversify FD money, but not a place for one to gain little bit extra from the interest rate. Instead put all FD in RM, one can put in AUD, NZD, GBP, Euro to hedge against potential RM depreciation.

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Added on April 16, 2008, 4:34 pm

I think you get it wrong already. (or should be the other way round, as Rm does depreciate against NZD about 20+%)

Around 2003, NZD was trading at 2.05-2.22 range. Now NZD is 2.50 currently. If one put NZD 5 years back, one actually gain through NZD appreciation plus interest earned.

RM is actually very poor compared to all major currencies except against USD. Don't be fooled by RM appreciated against USD from Rm3.60 to 3.15 currently, it is mainly because of USD plunging not because of Rm appreciating. In fact, RM is actually depreciating against major currencies like Yen, Euro, AUD, GBP even NZD.

I dont know how u get ur rates.
But mine from Yahoo finance shows
1/04 - 0.47

4/08 - 0.40

1/04 - RM1 = NZD 0.47 you bought
4/08 - RM1.175  = NZD 0.47

How can you make losses?  

Friend, you are mess up on this case. The lowest 2.04420 is during 2003 time. Now is 2.50. So you only lose 25% if you are origin of NZD aka mean you convert your NZD to RM at 2003 and convert back to NZD at present time

For simple scenario,

On March 2003, if you have RM 50K, with the rate around 2003, let say you manage to convert it at 2.10 (2003 was traded and hovering around that price), you get NZD 23,809.
Then if you keep for 5 years. now with NZD rate at 2.50, if you convert back to RM, it will be 23,809 x 2.50 = 59,522.

So you gain RM9,552 on your RM50K
It is not taking of account of interest rate you gain during this 5 years.

Don't get me wrong, I am not promoting foreign currency FD, just to clarify the issue.

saw your previous post, haha.

I don't know about local bank, but those foreign banks like Citi, Standard Chartered, OCBC etc, you don't need to convert back, you can auto-renew it until whenever you wish, be it 1 month ot 2 months or 1 year.

Therefore, it is a place for one to diversify FD money, but not a place for one to gain little bit extra from the interest rate. Instead put all FD in RM, one can put in AUD, NZD, GBP, Euro to hedge against potential RM depreciation.

anyway, cherroy, the banks you mention here, the interest rate is 7-9% for New Zealand ?

NZ interest rate is 8.25%. So mostly banks can offer 8.25% or lower, otherwise, if higher they are making a loss from it, so they might need a way to compensate it, like through exchange rate (buy & sell slippage of 2-3%).

We're referring to the spread between the bank buying and selling the foreign currency which is about 2.7%. so if you put in foreign currency FD, it should be long term of at least 2 years to minimize this effect, assuming forex rates do not move significantly. 

PB bank presently offers 9% p.a.  At this rate you double your money in 8 years.  Between NZ$ and Rm, I'm willing to place a fair bet on NZ.

You can ask for some discount (1-2 cents) either on the 'buy/sell' side if your amount is large enough.

Another way to avoid the slippage and get the spot rate is using DCI structure product then you can get away the slippage on both sell and buy side. But DCI normally is 100K and above.

i think foreign fd is not a feasible way of expanding your money's worth. it helps protect your money's value only at best. furthermore, the term 'fd' is misleading, because it doesn't take into account the change in currency rates  are u interested in the new zealand dollar? need to first question why the interest rate is so high for the NZD in the first place ...

attract investment in that country la...duh~

if anyone of you bother to do research n some calculation u wont post that kind of reply    - -"

There are lot of factors for a country central bank or in US is Fed to decide the interest rate policy. Generally primary concern would be economic growth and inflatin situation.

You can't raise interest rate is the economy situation is in bad shape especially in US finance instituitions are under great stress because of credit crisis and subprime woes. But on the other hand, they can't let the inflation situatin get out of hand which affect the confidence issue on the particular currency.

DCI? Dual Currency Investment?

Here's a product from Maybank:

http://www.maybank2u.com.my/mbb_info/m2u/p.../INV-Investment

Can i take out my Efixed deposit money if its just 1~2 months ?

If yes, how long it would take ? instantly ? n whats the procedure

hmm...i just checked it out fr pbb...

when the FCY FD reached maturity,u will not need to convert back to RM (ur Aus money still at AUs) but instead,u can proceed to choose ur option to change the duration term. The Bank applied a NON-AUATO renewal on the first renewal FCY FD sheet  only because customer are given the special interest. Auto -Renewal only appllied after the first sheet reaches maturity.

i just placed an AUS FCY FD today at forex exchange counter rate 2.725 for 1 month (7.0+1.0 speacial rate=8.0%).

hopefully it'll get to my target benchmark before i withdraw it 

Yes, MYR/AUD is at 5 years high, means that AUD is at 5 years low. FOr AUD/MYR, it has plunged down form 2.90-3.00 to now around 2.30-2.40 due to global financial crisis and commodities bubble bursting.

MYR/AUD chart is invert with AUD/MYR. Normally people look at AUD/MYR as your base currency is MYR.

hmm...i just checked it out fr pbb...

when the FCY FD reached maturity,u will not need to convert back to RM (ur Aus money still at AUs) but instead,u can proceed to choose ur option to change the duration term. The Bank applied a NON-AUATO renewal on the first renewal FCY FD sheet only because customer are given the special interest. Auto -Renewal only appllied after the first sheet reaches maturity.

i just placed an AUS FCY FD today at forex exchange counter rate 2.725 for 1 month (7.0+1.0 speacial rate=8.0%).

hopefully it'll get to my target benchmark before i withdraw it

Standard Chartered and HSBC has something similar. The minimum amount is much lower.

This is how it work, using this example:
Assuming you pair RM vs AUD. Contract is for 1 week. Interest @ 70% annual interest. AUD=RM2.30 now. Target price is AUD=RM2.27.

1 week later at maturity, several things can happen:
1. AUD higher than the Target Price of RM2.27. Bank give your money back in RM plus 70% interest.
2. AUD at Target Price of RM2.27. Bank give your money back in AUD + 70% interest. Converted at 2.27
3. AUD at 1.90. Bank give your money back in AUD + 70% interest. But still converted at 2.27 because this is the contracted price.

I reckon it's a very worthwhile thing to consider if you do not mind getting back your money in RM or foreign currency (for example, you have son in Australia studying).

The way I looked at it, you can only lose out if No.3 scenario happens. But then, if you need to buy AUD right now to send to your son in Australia, converting at 2.27 is still better than converting at 2.30.

You can also enter contract form 1 week to several month. Different interest rate. Range from 70% to single digit %.

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Added on November 15, 2008, 8:28 pmSo far, the best website that provides currency charts are:

1. http://www.ozforex.com.au/
On left hand side menu, select "Long Term Charts". Date goes back maximum 10 yrs.

2. http://fx.sauder.ubc.ca/plot.html
Data can go as far back as 27 years.
Anyone know any other good site for charts?

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Added on November 15, 2008, 8:30 pmCan anyone tell me how to add charts onto this thread?

I knew of RM50K, 100K and 250K contract subject to some condition. Go ask around.