PNB TO BEGIN OFFERING ACCESS TO FINANCIAL ADVICE, PLANNING AT LOW BASE ENTRY

KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 (Bernama) -- Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) will begin its next wave of offering by democratising access to professional financial advice and planning for ordinary Malaysians at a low base entry.

President and group chief executive Ahmad Zulqarnain Onn said tools would be provided to assist the different types of investors and inclusive for all Malaysians through numerous touchpoints, with the ultimate aim of having an advisory process that revolves around fostering a more holistic relationship with investors.

“Throughout our over 40-year history, we have democratised domestic investments by introducing products to Malaysians from all walks of life, with minimal initial investments of RM10 and additional investments of RM1,” he said in PNB's Annual Report 2021 released today. 

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As such, he noted that the same philosophy would be applied to financial advice and planning for all Malaysians, with the belief that every individual deserves the right mix of investment assets and portfolio.

“We will continue to judiciously strengthen and diversify our portfolio. This will be supported by a recalibration of our portfolio, supported through partnerships with some of the more prominent fund managers,” he said.  

Ahmad Zulqarnain said the aim was to grow the assets under management, targetting around four to five per cent growth per year.

“Our mid- to long-term strategies look to broaden our portfolios and continue with diversification efforts to construct a resilient, all-weather portfolio that is able to counter and lower the portfolio risk as well as generate sustainable returns to our unitholders,” he said.

Besides that, he said PNB’s transition towards an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) agenda present tremendous opportunities for the nation's biggest fund manager, in view of the upside potential of companies that would be valued positively by the market as they improve their metrics in ESG scoring.

PNB also aims to further embed ESG considerations more systematically in investment process, allowing funds to be better positioned to seize new opportunities and maximise diversification benefits towards achieving the optimal risk-return balance. 

Meanwhile, on the progress of Merdeka 118, group chairman Tun Arifin Zakaria said the overall progress of the tower construction stood at 90 per cent as of April 2022, with the tower on track for its targeted completion in the quarter four of 2022.

“Given that there are numerous components to Merdeka 118, we expect long-term sustainable returns from the overall development and foresee the realisation of investment over a 10 to 15-year period,” he added.

-- BERNAMA