Bursa aims to grow retail participation

PETALING JAYA: Bursa Malaysia Bhd is launching the “Invest Bursa, Invest in You” campaign this month, an initiative that aims to increase retail participation in the capital market among Malaysians, through widespread education and knowledge programmes, as well as initiatives to attract and ease initial entry into the capital market.

The first initiative is the Nationwide Share Ownership promotion, where Bursa Malaysia will partner with participating brokers to provide dedicated services to Malaysians who wish to sign up for a CDS account.

Throughout the promotion, Malaysians can fill in the lead form available on www.bursamarketplace. com and choose a preferred broker, who will get in touch within three days to ease the registration process.

According to the exchange, data from regional central banks and financial authorities show that Malaysia has the highest level of fixed deposits (FD) among regional peers. As at June 2018, FD accounts in Malaysia amounted to US$209 billion (RM866.5 billion), where interest rates hover around 3.35% for 12 months.

“There is an opportunity lost here when Malaysians keep most of their savings in Fixed Deposit accounts. As part of prudent asset allocation, it is advisable to diversify your financial or asset portfolio. The capital market is not only a viable channel to do this, but also provides an opportunity to grow the value of those savings in a regulated environment,” Bursa Malaysia CEO Datuk Seri Tajuddin Atan said in a statement yesterday.

The participation of retail investors or individual investors in the Malaysian capital market is currently at 22%. As at July 31, 1.9 million individual Central Depository System accounts were registered with Bursa Malaysia.