Translate This Page

Malaysia Bank Swift Code

What is Swift code? Swift code is known as ISO 9362 and is a standard format of Bank Identifier Codes approved by the International Organiza...

Friday, October 10, 2014

Malaysia Budget for the Year 2015: “Accelerating Growth, Ensuring Fiscal Sustainability and Prospering the Rakyat” - Highlights

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak unveiled Malaysia’s 2015 budget today, with an eyes on how the government plans to cut the fiscal deficit, bring down its own debt, piled up close to a self-imposed limit of 55 per cent of gross domestic product.






The following are highlights of Najib’s ongoing speech to parliament:
  • Government aims to lower fiscal deficit to 3.0 per cent in 2015 from an expected 3.5 per cent this year.
  • 2015 budget allocates total RM273.9 billion, an increase of RM9.8 billion compared with the 2014 initial allocation.
  • Operating expenditure RM223.4 billion, development expenditure RM50.5 billion.
  • Payments to civil servants of RM65.6 billion is largest operating expenditure item.
  • Federal government revenue collection estimated at RM235.2 billion in 2015, an increase of RM10.2 billion from 2014.

Taxes
  • Revenue from goods and services tax to be introduced in April at rate of 6 per cent expected to be RM23.2 billion, but after allowing for the abolition of the sales and services tax, and exemptions and funds channeled back to people through assistance programmes net revenue collection is expected to only be RM690 million.
  • Income tax rates to be cut by one to three percentage points. Families with monthly income of less than RM4,000 will not have to pay tax.
  • From 2016, the corporate tax rate will be reduced by one percentage point from 25 per cent to 24 per cent, and for small and medium sized enterprises to 19 per cent from 20 per cent.

Subsidies
  • The Economic Report said government plans to reduce the overall bill for subsidies and cash assistance by 7 per cent to RM37.7 billion in 2015 from RM40.6 billion in 2014.
  • Prime Minister Najib says he will reform the petroleum subsidy regime soon, to adopt a system that benefits less well off.

Property
  • Budget extends 50 per cent stamp duty exemption for first-time home buyers and increases the purchase limit from RM400,000 to RM500,000. The exemption will be given until the end of 2016.
  • Malaysia to move to self-assessment for real property gains tax from 2016.

Commodities
  •  Export duty exemption for crude palm oil extended until December 31, 2014.

Development
  • Eastern Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak to be allocated RM4.5 billion to upgrade facilities in rural areas.

Thursday, October 9, 2014

BUDGET 2015: What to look for?

If you are not aware, tomorrow, Malaysians will be looking forward to the Budget 2015, which will be announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. The theme of the budget is something to look forward to: 

“Accelerating Growth, Ensuring Fiscal Sustainability and Prospering the Rakyat”.


BUDGET 2015


What is there to look forward to?

Focusing on implementing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in April next year.

GST may well be the talking point again


Budget 2015 will definitely highlight some of the key things in regards to GST that will take effect in April next year. 

According to Maybank Investment Bank, it is expected that there will be ammendment on the excemptions from GST. Currently, fresh food, public transport, education fees are excempted. It is expected that there will be new excemption from the GST and thus GST revenues could decline to 2.4 billion ringgit from 4 billion ringgit for the April to December period, and 7 billion ringgit for 2016 from the initial projection of 9 billion ringgit.

FUEL SUBSIDY? More likely to be on TARGETED FUEL SUBSIDY

Will there be a targeted subsidy scheme in Malaysia?


The recent petrol hike highlight the seriousness of our government to reduce the fiscal deficit. The lower and middle income group will definitely be impacted by this and thus, it is likely that Najib could announce reform of the fuel subsidy regime in order to move away from a blanket subsidy for all consumers in favour of a system that benefits lower to middle-income earners.

MORE SUBSIDY CUT MAYBE?

It is possible that the government will reduce subsidies on essential food items, such as flour and cooking oil, as well as household gas, said RHB Research.

CASH AIDS are expected to continue

Expect it to be here to stay

We all heard Tun Dr. Mahathir's rant when he criticized Najib on BR1M but like it or not, it's likely to continue. The expansion in BR1M will likely cost the government 7.5 billion ringgit in 2015, up from 4.6 billion ringgit last year, the bank added.

PROPERTY MARKET...."I want my first home dilemma"



You've heard it so often...your friends are part of them and you might be one of them as well. Owning a home has been a real burden in Malaysia, especially in Klang Valley. According to Alliance DBS Research, it is expected that the exemptions on stamp duty for first-time house buyers may be extended. Some other research house expects the Real property gains tax (RPGT) may be raised further this year in an attempt to curb speculation. While many efforts are made to curb speculation, one must wonder if the government will do more to ensure the young adults in the working community could afford their first home. 



A GST rebate may be introduced on building materials used in the construction of medium to low cost properties, MIDF Research said in an interview with Business Times.

LOWER CORPORATE, PERSONAL TAXES

It is likely that this will happen. As Malaysia seek to be competitive in the region, the corporate taxes may be lowered by more than 1% cut announced for 2016. There are others that feel that the government might bring the cut in taxes forward rather than increasing the cut. In the attempt to alleviate the cost of living, new tax reliefs for household may be announced during the Budget.

What EVERYONE is saying?

You probably will hope this is true....PERODUA is hoping that whatever is going to be tabled during Budget 2015 will ease the financing difficulties of car buyers. What do you think?

PAKATAN RAKYAT has their own BUDGET too....

  1. Instead of GST, PR proposes Capital Gain Tax for equities (CGT) and Inheritance Tax
  2. Reduce the deficit by stopping corruption, an estimation of a savings of RM11.8 billion and RM12.4 billion in 2014 with an effective and robust programme.
  3. PETRONAS would be made accountable to the Parliament
  4. Look at the non-transparent 1MDB. (well, at least PR is agreeing to Tun Dr. Mahathir now)
  5. Oppose the recent petrol hike. 
Entrepreneurs are expecting more in this budget. Some are expecting a fund of about RM50,000 to RM100,000 to help in R&D for SME. 

Well, we all have our own expectations, wishes and objectives...but the final say will be coming out tomorrow from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. Hopefully, the Budget will be something that benefit Malaysian in progressing to achieve an advanced and high-income nation status by the year 2020. 

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Buffett on stocks: Look at them as "business"

Recently the stock market has not been doing very well, whether it is in the local market or in the region or in US or Europe.

For today, the FBMI KLCI ended lower for the second day in a row as weak foreign sentiment weighed down the market. It lost 9.22 points or 0.5% to end at 1824.32 as stocks such as IHH Healthcare Bhd and SapuraKencana Petroleum Berhad declined. 

FBMKLCI Index
I guess it's natural for people to panic when they see such a drop, especially if you are buying on news and projects that you heard of.

When you look at the world market, you are probably even more afraid.

Below are the indexes of the world market from Bloomberg.

ASIA

AMERICAS

EUROPE
Red signs are not what investors would wanna see.

But there is one thing that is bigger than the trend, bigger than the volatility of the market...and according to Warren Buffett, it's the business.

Warren Buffett in an interview with CNN
The man known as America's greatest investor isn't bothered by stock market volatility. 

"I have no idea what the stock market's going to do tomorrow or next week or next month or next year," said Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett.

"If you own your stocks as an investment—just like you'd own an apartment, house or a farm—look at them as a business," Buffett advised. "If you're going to try to buy and sell them based on news or something your neighbor tells you, you're not going to do well. Find a good bunch of businesses and hold them."

"You will not make money trying to sell stocks daily or weekly," Buffett said.

So, if you are holding a stock that you know the business is good and that the prospect moving forward is great, why fear the volatility? 

Another famous quote by Buffett:

“Be Fearful When Others Are Greedy and Greedy When Others Are Fearful”

Monday, October 6, 2014

Maybankard 2 Platinum Card

On my previous blog post, I posted on the comparison of some of the best cash rebate credit cards in Malaysia namely the Maybank 2 Card Platinum (Maybankard 2 Platinum), Citibank Cash Back Platinum, UOB One Platinum and the Hong Leong Wise Platinum card. Note that I'm using the "platinum" tag to compare although there is the gold card for Maybankard 2 Card, Hong Leong Wise and UOB One is because I cannot find something similar for Citibank Cash Back Platinum, so I think it will be fair to compare the four cards based on the same annual income requirement of RM 60, 000.



Today I'm blogging more on the details of the Maybankard 2 Platinum Card. Maybankard 2 Platinum Card comes with two cards, as the name has suggested. It comes with the bundle of one Maybankard 2 American Express card and the choice of either the Visa or Master Card. Having said so, the users prior to mid of 2014 only have to pay one GST or RM50 while the new applicants after that will be required to pay GST for both cards or RM100.

The following is the pros and cons of the Maybankard 2 Platinum Card.

Pros:
  • Lifetime annual fee waiver
  • 5% cash back on everything during the weekends using the Maybankard 2 American Express card, capped at RM50 per month
  • 5x TreatsPoints for all spend on your Maybankard 2 American Express Card in Malaysia or anywhere else in the world except Government Bodies, Education Institutions and Insurance Provider
  • 2x TreatsPoints for every RM1 spend on your Maybankard 2 American Express Card at Government Bodies, Education Institutions and Insurance Providers.
  • 1x TreatPoints for every RM1 spend on the Visa or Master Card

Cons:
  • Shared credit limit
  • 2x RM50 GST per year (although the benefit only comes from the Maybank 2 American Express Card)
  • Not all merchant accept American Express
  • Cash back only effective on weekends

Basically, I don't find any cash back benefit or cap difference between the gold and the platinum card. The platinum basically requires higher annual income of RM 60, 000 compares to RM 30, 000 of the gold card which is why I think the gold card is exceptionally useful for fresh grad especially those with the pay between RM 2, 5000 and RM 3, 500 and fresh grads can make full use of the cash back during the spending over the weekends with almost no hidden terms and conditions even though they are applying for the gold card; as the cash back cap for the gold and platinum is the same.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Comparison Of Cash Rebate Credit Cards in Malaysia

As we all might have know by now that the Ron95 petrol price up by 20c beginning 2nd October 2014, 12.00 a.m as part of the subsidy rationalization move by the government. In fact, after the announcement of the petrol hike, the petrol stations are jammed with the citizen rushing out to fill up the tank in order to save some money.



While the effort might save a few ringgit and it is a one time effort, still a lot of Malaysians are doing so, knowing that every penny saved count. This is why for the past few years, cash rebate credit cards are gaining popularity in Malaysia - especially those credit cards that offer the cash rebate for petrol like the Maybank 2 card, Citibank Cash Back card, UOB One card and Hong Leong Bank Wise card. Before this OCBC Titanium is popular due to its 5% on petrol and dining and capped at RM50 cash back per month, however the offer ended and it is now offering 1% unlimited cash back.

The attached is the comparison of the 4 most attractive cash rebate cards for the Malaysian to choose from in which I will blog more details on each of the credit card feature in the following posts.





Labels

Investment News share market bursa malaysia FBM KLCI market daily report stock stock market Brokers Report Malaysia Financial Management brokers call Personal Finance research report Financial Economy General stock investment Money Articles FBMKLCI Stocks market PublicInvest Research Budget Wall Street Update PublicInvest research report Wall Street KLCI oil & gas 1MDB Hong Leong Investment Bank research report Personal Opinion Dow Jones Issue US bursa Credit Card Debt Kenanga research report equity market kenanga research oil price politics ringgit Market Watch PPP klse najib property development Malaysia Weekly Highlights Nasdaq oil property thoughts EPF Hong Leong Investment Bank Research Income Tax construction Maybank Research Misc Money Master Najib Razak S&P 500 Index The Edge Financial Daily US stock market bank negara weekly weekly investment term China Companies in Focus Inflation Loan Rules Theedgemarkets business maybank plantation s&P 500 warren buffett Crude Oil Insurance MIDF research report Maybank IB research Retirement Planning Reuters business news finance global opinion spending stocks with momentum technology Bank Brokers Feng Shui OPEC Savings Wealth bear market currency financial services global market investing microsoft wallstreet 1 Malaysia Development Bhd 1Malaysia Development Bhd BNM International Reserves Billionaire Budget 2016 Commodity Disney Investment Term Malaysia News PCB Petronas Richest People STD Saudi Arabia bloomberg british american tobacco gaming sector low oil price media publicInvest russia share investment stock pick telecommunication top glove trading wallstreet update weakened Ringgit 2010 2016 Air Asia America Bad Debt Bill Gates Billy Toh Budget 2017 Calculation Chinese New Year Currency Exchange Education Fed Forex Gold IPIC Income Iran Kenanga Research research report Lembaga Tabung Haji MAS Macquarie research report Oil & Gas sector Quote RHB Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) Star Wars Star Wars: The Force Awakens US Fed hike affin hwang capital airasia analyst apple axiata bearish market business highlights construction & engineering consumer products dow jones industrial average earnings report equity expenses global bear market healthcare hup seng industries berhad inari inari amertron berhad interest rate learning malaysia airlines market news maybank investment bank oil and gas oil palm plantation oil prices opr overnight policy rate (OPR) s&P500 s&p satya nadella scandal thought thought of the day 2013 2014 Bank Negara reserves Broker Report Budget 2020 Cash Rebate Donald Trump Earn Financial Planning Financial World Forbes Global Competitiveness Report Global News Global semiconductor sales Goldman Sachs Good Debt How The Rich Get Richer IOI Corp Bhd India Intelligent Investor Interest Rates Linear Income M&A Securities Mahathir Malaysia Business Highlights Maybank 2 card P1 Passive Income Privacy Policy PublicInvest Bank research report REIT RHB Investment Research RHB Research Report RM SIA Sector review TA Research TM TPPA Telekom Malaysia Tun Dr Mahathir US news USD USD against MYR United States Wall Street Journal World Economic Forum Zeti airasia x airlines apple inc asset allocation automotive aviation sector azure banking sector bat beverage bonds box office brent crude budget 2015 bumi armada buy property cash consumer discretionary default developer electricity tariff hike engineering financial market global economy greece gst home hong leong investment bank house infrastructure iphone jobs kossan rubber industries macquarie equities research report malaysia Ringgit market close market updates mukhriz nadella new era for oil opinions pipeline services politic public bank random rate hike research retirement ringgit crisis sector update semiconductor semiconductor sales semiconductor sector shale producers share sime darby stock market. oil & gas industry tax technical analysis telco sector the edge weekly news world market 0% Easy Payment Plan 1MDB scandal 1mdb story 20 cents 2009 2011 29 minutes 3.25% 53 cost cutting measures 7-eleven 9 Things Rich People Do Differently Every Day ABNxcess AFP NEWS AMMB Abu Dhabi fund AirAsia X Bhd Alcohol AmInvestment Bank research report Amazon Ambank Aminvestment research report Ann Joo Ann Joo Resources Bhd Anwar Apple watch Asia Asian stock market Avengers BIMB Securities Research BJ Auto BP Plastics Holding Bhd BSI Singapore Bailout Banking and finance sector Benjamin Graham Biden Bio Osmo Book Borneo Oil Bhd CIMB CLIQ Energy Bhd CPO export tax CPO price CSI 300 Carlos Slim Carlsberg Cepatwawasan Group Bhd Charts China General Nuclear Power Corp China's bond market China's wealthiest man Christmas Circuit breaker Citibank Cash Back card Commodity Watch Credit Customer Service DSKH Holdings (M) Bhd Dagang NeXchange Bhd Datasonic Group Bhd David cameron Debt Status Deficit Deloitte Dividend Domestic news Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd E.U ECB EON Eastern & Oriental Bhd Eco World Eco World Development Group Bhd Edra Euro Europe Central Bank European Union Evergreen External Trade FPSO Genesis Fed rate hike Federal Reserves Federal rate Fitbit Fitbit Inc Gamuda Genting Malaysia Berhad George Kent (M) Bhd Global Competitiveness Index Global Issue Gordon Growth Greece exit Greed is Good Guan Chong Bhd Guinness HSBC Hasbro Hektar Reit Hiap Teck Ventures Bhd Highlights Hillary Clinton Hock Seng Lee Hong Leong Bank Bhd Hong Leong Bank Investment research report Hong Leong Bank Wise card Hong Leong Industries Bhd ICB IMF INTC IPO IPOs IT Ibraco Bhd Intel Corporation International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) Islamic Banking and finance sector Ismail Sabri JF Apex Securities JF Apex Securities Research Janet Yellen Jerasia Capital Bhd Junk KNM KNM Group Bhd KVMRT 2 Investment KWSP Keep Up With The Joneses Khir Toyo LHDN Leissner Lim Kit Siang Lucasfilm M+ online Market Wrap MARA MH370 MIDA MISC Bhd MLTA MPC MRTA MSN Money News Madza Malaysia Airports Holdings Malaysia Banking Malaysia Bond Market Malaysia fund Malaysian Palm Oil Board Malaysian Ringgit Mara Digital Store March CPO export tax Maxis Maybankard 2 Card Microsoft in the new era Millionaire Next Door Mistakes Motivation N2N Connect NAP 2014 NTPM Holdings Bhd Nazir Razak News Update News at a Glance Nikkei O&G OCBC OPEC war OSA Obama Office 365 Windows 10 Oil Watch PTPTN Packet One Parkson Paypal Perdana Perisai Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd Petronas Gas Bhd Pintaras Jaya Bhd Pioneer Natural Resources Co Power Practical ways on spending Prestariang Bhd Public Investment Research PublicInvestresearch report RBC Capital Markets RCP average poll of US election RGB International Bhd RHB Research RM crisis RM2.6 billion ROE Ranhill Holdings Bhd Rants Rating Raya holiday Recession Ringgit's volatility SEM SKB Shutters Corp Bhd SME segment SP Setia SRR Saizen REIT SapuraKencana Seacera Group Bhd Shale oil Sime Darby Bhd Simee Darby Singles Stimulus Plan Stock Selection for the Enterprising Investor Sunway Construction Bhd Superlon Holdings Bhd Swift Code TIME TMI TNB TOYOTA TRC Synergy Tan Sri Tony Fernandes Tax Reliefs Technorati Tenaga Tenaga Nasional Bhd The Citizens Declaration The Edge Weekly The Negative Side The New York Times Tim Cook Titijaya Land Bhd Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Trump v Clinton Tsipras U.K UEM Edgenta Bhd UMNO UMW Oil & Gas UOA US Box Office US election US fed US manufacturing data US market US patent and trademark US prosecutors US stocks USA USD/MYR USEconomy Uchi Technologies Bhd Ultra-Rich Networth individuals UniFi United Kingdom Uob one card Versatile Creative Bhd W-8BEN WCT Holdings Wahid Wal-Mart Wall Street support Warren's Way Windows 10 Yak Yew Chee Yellen Yinson Holding abenomics aemulus affordable housing ahmad bashah ahmad zahid airline airports alibaba alternative investment aluminium asian market audit automobile azure machine learning bank negara malaysia below $30 a barrel berjaya auto bhd berjaya food bond market borneo utara highway brexit britain broadband budget 2018 budget revision bulk purchase of property bullish bullish market burse cloud computing cocoa coffee consumer staples consumption power cost of having a baby crane customer data debt investor deflation risk development downpayment for your home early election earnings per share economic outlook economic outlook 2016 economic sanction economics economy outlook ecoworld effective gross income egi election election budget electric utility electricity electricity bill electricity production endowment plan energy sector entertaiment eps essay european central bank eversendai eversendai corp export data family food beverage food services forecasts foreign-worker levy hike fundamental questions on retirement genting group genting plantation george soros global energy global stock market globetronic glove goldman great eastern group purchase of property has oil bottom? health higher price home business household & Personal product how low can ringgit drop? humor industrial package industry product interest internet investment income investment plan investment strategy iraq jack ma jack ma ready to take on the world jaks resources bhd japan jobless kimlun klci index knowledge land reclaimation work lawsuits life lifestyle lifestyle inflation liquefied natural gas (LNG) machine learning maintain buy malaysia government managing debt manchester united manufacture polyrethane product manufacturing marine engineering market closing market outlook markets mazda medical insurance metering microsoft earnings middle class monetary policy committee moneymaster mortgage movie negative nestle noon market offshore marine support services oil & gas services oil gain oil madness oil market oil production oil rally oil&gas oldtown opr hike patent petrol petrol chemical petroleum petronas gas pipeline project positive power generation power plant prime minister primus pacific private placement profitability ratios project reference property & infrastructure property development and investment putrajaya quantitative easing relative strength index (RSI) renewable energy reputational risk resources retail retailing retirement fund rhb research institute risk risks ruble salesforce sapurakencana petroleum savings for retirement scicom scientex scomi energy services bhd sector sell share markets share price shinzo abe shipbuilding shopping mall stagnation star publication (M) bHd starbucks statistics steel stock market bursa malaysia stock market investment stock price swiss swiss bank takaful tech technical indicator telco the malaysian insider the star thermo-vacuum form plastic packaging manufacturer time value money top gainers top losers trade volume index (TVI) traditional healthcare uchi tech umw holdings upstream oil & gas ursa malaysia value of compounding wal-mart effect warren buffet water related engineering wearable tech webe windows worldwide sales zecon