Bestino group

Kuala Lumpur, 16 June 2009



SC orders Bestino Group to stop issuing securities

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) today ordered Bestino Group Bhd (Bestino Group) to cease issuing preference shares or securities of any kind to the public with immediate effect.



Bestino Group had failed to seek the SC's approval for the offering of their preference shares to the public and to register a prospectus with the SC as required under Section 232 of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 (CMSA).



Through a scheme it marketed, Bestino Group claimed to be involved in gold investments and the issuance of redeemable preference shares, promising monthly returns of 3% in dividend payments.



Listed and unlisted public companies wishing to issue securities of any kind to the public must comply with Section 232 of the CMSA, which makes it mandatory to obtain the SC's prior approval as well as register a prospectus that complies with the CMSA and the SC's Prospectus Guidelines. These requirements aim to ensure that investors are provided with all the relevant information on a company, the investment scheme it offers, and the risks involved in order for them to make informed decisions on their investments.



These disclosures form part of the protection required by law for investors. Investors must always ensure they have the benefit of this protection by asking for a copy of the prospectus if they have not been provided one by the company.



Once again, the SC wishes to remind investors to be wary of investment schemes promising extraordinarily high returns within a short investment period. Investors must always check to see if the activity undertaken by the company is legal, and where it requires regulatory approval for the activity, to ensure that the company has the appropriate approvals or licences.



Members of the public with information on illegal investments schemes or suspected scams involving securities of any kind are encouraged to contact the SC via email address aduan@seccom.com.my or via tel: 03-6204 8999/8777.



SECURITIES COMMISSION

MADOFF SCAM BECOMES 'EARTH' QUAKE $50B DISASTER RIPPLES FROM TOKYO TO GENEVA

By LUKAS I. ALPERT and JAMES FANELLI
Last updated: 12:59 pm
December 14, 2008
Posted: 2:16 am
December 14, 2008

The fallout from a stunning $50 billion swindle - allegedly engineered by Bernard Madoff - is turning into a global pandemic.

International banks, hedge funds and small-time investors from Japan to Switzerland emerged yesterday as potential victims in what's being called history's largest Ponzi scheme.

The international losses alone could be more than $8 billion.

Just in Geneva, banks reportedly may be out of $4 billion invested with Madoff.

Tokyo's Nomura Holdings, which reportedly recently began marketing Madoff's fund abroad, also is swept up in the financial wipeout.

And Bermuda's Kingate Management had invested part of its $2.8 billion fund with Madoff.

"It's overwhelming. We have been interviewing people from as far away as Argentina, London - of course, Palm Beach and the New York area - up and down the Eastern seaboard, and out West," said attorney Mark Mulholland, who has filed a class-action suit against Madoff in federal court in Long Island.

Meanwhile, it was revealed yesterday that Madoff's investment business hasn't been inspected by the Securities and Exchange Commission since he registered with the agency in September 2006, according to Bloomberg News.

Generally, the SEC scrutinizes a newly registered firm's books in the first year and then checks them at least every five years.

Madoff's brokerage firm - which is separate from the investment business - was found to have three violations in a 2005 inspection for violating rules on trade prices. But the company was inspected last year without a claim.

While the effects of the alleged scam were felt worldwide, the brunt of its effect is being felt among wealthy country-club investors Madoff cultivated on Long Island and in South Florida.

Some of the Big Apple's wealthiest individuals and institutions may have been duped, including Yeshiva University - on whose board Madoff sat - Mets owner Fred Wilpon and the former owners of the Stop & Shop supermarket chain.

Other notables who have reportedly been stung by the collapse of Madoff's fund are Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and members of New York's Loeb family.

Sources say Kay Windsor founder Carl Shapiro lost $400 million, and Nine West founder Jerome Fisher, who lives in Palm Beach, Fla., lost $150 million.

North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System on Long Island and the Texas-based Julian J. Levitt Foundation are also believed to have lost millions.

"The numbers we are hearing from these victims in terms of losses are in the hundreds of millions absolutely," Mulholland said.

American hedge funds were far from immune.

Maxam Capital Management, of Darien, Conn., may have lost $280 million and has been forced to close. The Fairfield Greenwich Group in Connecticut had part of its $7.5 billion fund invested with Madoff. And New York-based Access International also lost an unknown amount.

The SEC has seized Madoff's assets and Lee Richards has been named receiver to go through Madoff's books to determine who is entitled to surviving funds.

Investors anxious about their investments have been urged to call Richards at (214) 647-7511.

Additional reporting by Stephanie Cohen and AP

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Remain Calm Through Market Turbulence

In the wake of the turbulence of stock markets in recent months, unit trust investors may be tempted to either sell or buy. However, investors are advised to remain calm and practise dollar cost averaging with their long-term goals in view.

When regional and global markets succumbed to panic selling in August 2007 and more recently in January 2008, the severity and sharpness of the correction was large enough to make unit trust investors ask themselves whether they should redeem now to stem further losses or buy more units at currently low prices. In fact, if they practise dollar cost averaging, they need not concern themselves with these timing issues. Dollar cost averaging enables investors to automatically buy more units when prices fall and fewer units when prices rise.

It is especially during times of market volatility that individual investors should remain focused on their long-term investment goals and keep their emotions from influencing their investment decisions. A disciplined and methodical approach to investing is the key to long-term investment success.

Unit trust investors are advised to buy and hold their investments for the medium to long term. The buy-and-hold principle is based on the notion that a good investment will generate reasonably attractive returns over the medium to long term. This also means that investors are able to distinguish between daily movements in the market and the underlying long-term value of their investments. Professional fund managers buy and hold for the medium to long term as they are prepared to wait patiently over several years for their investments to reach their intrinsic or fair values. For the unit trust investor, the 'buy-and-hold' strategy can also be applied by holding on to a well-selected unit trust fund over a period of at least three years.

There are some investors who believe they can achieve superior returns by timing the purchase and redemption of equity funds to profit from the stockmarket's short-term movements. These investors are tempted to engage in timing the market especially in an environment where equity markets are volatile. Such investors who wish to make quick gains in the stock market by switching from one fund into another fund will often be disappointed. Market timing strategies that are often recommended by 'investment experts' have seldom been successful. This is because stock markets are inherently volatile and are impossible to predict with numerous factors, both domestic and foreign, affecting daily and weekly fluctuations in stock prices.

Investors who wish to take a more active approach with their investments by timing the market will expose themselves to many risks. In order to profit from the market's short-term trends, the investor has to correctly predict the market's trend and its turning points.

Without the appropriate skills to discern signals and time the entries and exits, the market timer may not only miss opportunities, but also potentially suffer the blow of rapid losses. Also with a higher frequency of fund switching, investors will have to incur increased transaction costs.

Investors who are concerned about market volatility are advised to practise dollar cost averaging as this strategy enables investors to focus on the long-term investment goal and not worry about the prevailing level of the market. Dollar cost averaging is simply investing a fixed amount of money in a financial asset (such as a unit trust fund) on a regular basis (monthly, quarterly, biannual) regardless of the market cycle. By investing a fixed amount on a regular basis, investors will buy more units when the market is lower and fewer units when the market is higher. This strategy will produce a lower average cost of investment than the average market price over any given period.

In addition, investors are also advised to rebalance their portfolios regularly at least once a year to ensure that their portfolio allocation reflects their investment objectives and risk profile. Thus if, as a result of an uptrend in stock prices, an investor's equity exposure has exceeded a level consistent with his risk tolerance, he can trim a portion of the equity funds and switch into bond or money market funds to rebalance the asset allocation accordingly. Maintaining a target asset allocation reduces the risk that the portfolio becomes too concentrated in a single asset class.

In conclusion, unit trust investors should always focus on achieving their medium to long-term investment goals. The practice of dollar cost averaging and regular portfolio rebalancing are effective tools that help investors remain focused on the long term horizon and prevent them from over-reacting to short-term movements of the stockmarket.

Copyright 2008 by
Public Mutual

EPF Declares 4.50 % Dividend For 2008

Yesterday 16 March 2009, The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has declared a dividend of 4.50 percent for 2008, lower than the 5.8 percent in 2007.

The lower dividend rate is due to the increase in investment provisioning resulting from the sharp decline in global equity prices brought about by the worldwide financial crisis, the pension fund said in a statement here Monday.

Despite the financial meltdown, the EPF recorded the highest ever earnings of RM20 billion in gross income for 2008, an increase of 9.36 percent over the previous year's gross income of RM18.29 billion.

"While the year 2008 was challenging due to the unprecedented global financial crisis that has impacted economies worldwide, EPF's investment portfolio for the year performed better at the gross income level compared to 2007. However, due to the sharp decline in the equity markets, a large provision had to be made resulting in a marked reduction in net income," its chairman Tan Sri Samsudin Osman said.

My comments :-

EPF main role to keep save EPF contributors money for their retirement has made the organisation keep a conservative approach in investing the EPF fund. However, you and me as EPF contributor has the right to choose whether to keep all our money with EPF or to transfer some of Account I to the Unit Trust Management Consultant (UTMC).

Ask yourself this.. when you have the option to transfer some of your EPF fund to UTMC to get more return in Unit trust fund, should I keep my money in EPF? What is the risk if I put some of my Account I money to the UTMC?

Get some tips from few expert :-

1) Can You Retire ?

2) We all need to be Millionaire

3) Opportunities in Crisis

4) How to make Unit Trust work for you

I hope this info will give you some idea how you can start building your Financial Fortress. Kindly call 012-2892366 for enquiry.

Gunakan masa terluang dengan kaedah sempurna

Rasulullah SAW bersabda yang bermaksud:

“Pergunakanlah lima sebelum datang lima perkara. Masa mudamu sebelum masa tuamu, masa kayamu sebelum masa miskinmu, masa lapangmu sebelum masa sempitmu dan masa hidupmu sebelum masa matimu.”

Sabda Rasulullah SAW yang bermaksud:

“Apabila sudah tiba waktu pagi, maka jangan tunggu sampai petang, apabila sudah tiba waktu petang maka jangan tunggu sampai waktu pagi. Oleh sebab itu, pergunakanlah waktu hidupmu untuk bekal kematianmu, dan pergunakanlah waktu sihatmu untuk waktu sakitmu.”