Morningstar Malaysia Fund Awards 2019
Mr. Shihan Abey Guna, Head of Business Development, Southeast Asia, Morningstar Ladies and Gentlemen A very good morning to you all. |
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| 1. | Before I begin, I would like to thank Morningstar for inviting the SC to say a few words at this year’s fund awards. This annual event is a great opportunity to recognise the contributions of all industry stakeholders. Morningstar has played its role in making investment information available to help investors make informed decisions. |
| 2. | Everyone here has certainly put in a lot of effort to grow our domestic fund management industry to an AUM of RM744 billion. In terms of asset allocation, 47% was allocated to equities followed by money market instruments at 23% and fixed income at 20%. Unit trust segment closed last year with a NAV of RM426 billion. Private Retirement Schemes recorded a growth of 20%, reaching a size of RM2.7 billion with over 415,000 members as of end 2018. |
| 3. | These Awards serve to highlight the performance of our industry professionals in managing funds that have delivered commendable returns and preservation of value. |
| 4. | I look forward to the announcement of the winners who had done well last year; 2018 started on a positive footing but ended on a negative note. We are heartened that the Malaysian capital market held its ground and closed the year at RM3.1 trillion. |
| 5. | Against this backdrop, our award winners in the different categories managed to increase their NAV by an average of 33%. This is a testament to their skills, expertise and persistence, as well as the unitholders’ confidence in their funds. |
| Ladies and gentlemen, | |
| 6. | The industry’s ability to continue to grow over the years, including periods of challenging market conditions, is due to investors’ trust and confidence in the Malaysian capital market. |
| 7. | On this note, the SC will continue to focus on encouraging market participants to play their respective roles to uphold market discipline. |
| 8. | Conduct…I want to say is that good conduct is expected from all stakeholders and must not be compromised. |
| 9. | Market Vibrancy…Over the last few years, this is a much talked about. Clearly, it has not gone away. |
| 10. | What we need is a consistent pipeline of IPO companies which are reasonably large with high growth. |
| 11. | In this regard, we will work with Bursa Malaysia and the investment bankers to engage their top tier unlisted, large and mid-sized corporates. Within the 12,500 companies that represent over 50% of our GDP, we are confident that there are high growth companies that can be listed. We recognise that the public market competes with private equity funds. We must all work together to bring these companies to the market. |
| 12. | At the same time, we are working with industry to review the primary market framework, including IPO approvals. The objective is to make the process more efficient balanced with accountability. |
| 13. | In terms of equities trading, we are working closely with the stockbroking industry to make the trading experience more seamless. The Brokerage Industry Digitisation Group (BRIDGe) project is an on-going initiative to accelerate the digitalisation of the whole value chain, including digital on-boarding, e-KYC, straight-through clearing and settlement process. This should improve the level of participation in the market where last year, domestic private institutions contributed around 42% of total trading value compared to 25% by the foreign investors. |
| 14. | The SC is committed to increase the level of digital adoption within the capital markets. The industry as a whole needs to look at the way they engage and meet the demands of a new generation of investors. |
| Ladies and gentlemen, |
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| 15. | To conclude, I would like to express my appreciation on behalf of the SC the importance of the fund management industry within the capital market. I would like to congratulate the winners of the Morningstar Fund Awards Malaysia this year and I hope these awards will also inspire others to aim higher and perform better. |
| Thank you. | |
