Kenanga Investors wins big at 2019 Best of the Best Awards, aims to boost investor education in Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR: Kenanga Investors Berhad (Kenanga Investors) walked away with three awards at the 2019 Best of the Best Awards by Hong Kongbased Asia Asset Management held in Singapore recently.
The fund house was awarded Malaysia Best Equity Manager, Malaysia Best Wealth Management Platform and Malaysia Best Investor Education and it aims to continue improving investor education in Malaysia.
In a statement, Kenanga Investors chief executive officer and executive director Ismitz Matthew De Alwis saod that the fund house was able to produce returns and stay ahead of its peers due to its bottom-up stock-picking strategy that identifies quality stocks generally undervalued relative to their intrinsic value.
The Malaysia Best Equity Manager is in recognition of the success of the fund house’s equity products within Malaysia’s domestic market given the challenging trading conditions and its abilities in capturing potential growth opportunities.
The Malaysia Best Investor Education recognises the fund house’s role in raising awareness about financial planning in order to enhance retirement savings, initiatives taken and channels deployed, use of technology as well as the significance of these efforts at the country level.
The Malaysia Best Wealth Management Platform recognises the fund house due to it making a difference in the local market by providing a holistic financial approach to wealth management.
“Despite experiencing a relatively bearish environment in 2018, we were able to deliver consistent, risk-adjusted returns; it goes to show that outperformance during market uptrends is just as important as protecting our downside when the opposite occurs,” he added.
The fund house’s investment strategy is supported by solid risk management policies which ensure that it identifies, assesses and controls risks inherent in products, activities, and systems.
Commenting on some of the challenges faced with regards to investor education in Malaysia, De Alwis said that investors falsely believe they would be able to survive on their EPF savings when they reach retirement age while others lack interest in learning more about the financial market which leaves them susceptible to scams or choose the wrong investment vehicle.
“To combat this, we work continuously with media partners, regulators and educational institutions so that we can reach out to the public on a wider scale, especially tertiary and secondary students.”
According to him, the root of the challenge was education.