The SC’s flagship investor education event, which marked its 10th year this year, was officiated by YB Tuan Steven Sim Chee Keong, Deputy Minister of Finance II. This year’s theme is “
10 Tahun Memperkasa Rakyat Malaysia” or “10 years of Empowering Malaysian Investors”.
InvestSmart® Fest 2023, held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, is focusing on four key themes:
(1) Investor Empowerment
(2) Fintech
(3) Financial Planning and
(4) Investment Scams Prevention.The SC Chairman Dato’ Seri Dr. Awang Adek Hussin said investor protection remained a top priority for the SC.
In his speech, he warned the public about the activities of self-proclaimed but unlicensed investment gurus and financial influencers that are not always helpful to investors.
“The SC is keeping an eye on this and so far, we have taken action against five so- called financial influencers,” he said. “These range from administrative actions to criminal charges for activities relating to unlicensed investment advice and money laundering.”
On scams, he said the SC has been collaborating with relevant stakeholders such as the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to disrupt scam activities.
As at end of October 2023, the SC has commenced four enforcement actions against unlicensed activities cases, included 274 new entries on Alert List as well as blocked
128 websites, 113 Telegram accounts, 78 Facebook accounts and 10 Instagram accounts.
Being a key area of concern of the SC, he said a special Task Force within the SC had been formed this year to further enhance the SC’s effectiveness in addressing the proliferation of such scams and other unlicensed activities.
The SC has also developed a
Scam Meter page on the SC’s website to help identify and increase awareness of common scam indicators in investment opportunities.
In addition, the SC will soon be rolling out an
Investment Checker, a one-stop search function on the SC’s website that will assist investors identify legitimacy of an entity offering an investment opportunity, whether they are licensed and authorised investment entities in the capital market.
Since the launch of InvestSmart® investor empowerment initiative in 2014, the SC has reached out to several millions of Malaysians through on-the-ground events and via digital platforms.
This year’s InvestSmart® Fest 2023 is participated by more than 35 organisations. They include financial market institutions, capital market intermediaries, industry associations, regulatory bodies, government agencies and SC’s affiliates.
In addition to the exhibitions, there will be special talks, panel discussions and fireside chats by industry experts.
Visitors to the InvestSmart® Fest 2023 will have the opportunity to obtain free initial assessment of their financial status from licensed financial planners.
This is in addition to getting tips on how to manage their savings and investment at the #FinPlan4U financial planning desks. This year, over 500 sessions are offered on first-come, first-served basis.
For the first time this year, InvestSmart® has incorporated a series of capital market career talks at the event.
The event is brought by
investED, a new initiative between the SC, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Higher Education and industry players, to expose young graduates on the various career opportunities in the capital market.
InvestSmart® Fest 2023 is supported by Bursa Malaysia Berhad, Federation of Investment Managers Malaysia, Financial Planning Association of Malaysia and Malaysian Financial Planning Council.
