Saturday, August 22, 2009

iFAST Capital confident of managing more assets


FINANCIAL service provider iFAST Capital Sdn Bhd expects assets under management to increase more than sevenfold to RM150 million by the end of next year, driven by growth in its retail and wealth management platforms.

iFAST Capital sells unit trust funds online through fundsupermart.com. It also partners financial advisers to sell funds using its integrated wealth management platform.

The assets for both platforms total RM20 million currently.

"The wealth management platform is meant to help serve the corporate unit trust advisers (Cutas)," iFAST Capital managing director Dennis Tan said.


Currently, there are only three Cuta companies registered with the Federation of Investment Managers Malaysia (FIMM) using iFAST Capital's business-to-business (B2B) platform.

"There are several other companies that will receive their Cuta status soon from FIMM and this will increase the representatives from 70 (individuals) currently," Tan told Business Times in an interview.

Cutas advise on unit trust products from various unit trust management companies.

The B2B platform, launched last October, has 900 accounts and sees 100 per cent growth monthly.

"More financial planners are getting comfortable using our platform to conduct their unit trust business," Tan said.

The retail platform, launched last September, showcases some 91 funds provided by 10 fund houses.

"Our belief is that most fund houses will join us over the medium term, except for those with a strong agency force," iFAST Capital's Malaysian division general manager Wong Sui Jau said.

With some 1,000 retail accounts under fundsupermart, Wong expects exponential growth to take place within four years.

"Right now, the early adopters and those familiar with investing overseas are using the platform. But this will snowball once the majority looks at this as an alternative channel," he said.

Generally, fundsupermart sees higher margins as it deals directly with customers, while its margin from the B2B platform is shared with the Cutas. The B2B platform thus drives hard on the volume game.

The company targets to break even in 2011 and will continue to inject capital to ensure the business runs smoothly.

The estimated initial expenditure for Malaysia is some RM20 million, of which RM15 million has been used.

iFAST Capital is a subsidiary of iFAST-OSK Sdn Bhd, a joint venture between OSK Investment Bank Bhd and Singapore's iFAST Corp Pte Ltd. It is part of the iFAST group, which has a presence in Malaysia, India, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Business Times

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

人口老化股市长期不振 日养老基金失败须借鉴

亚洲国家进行私人退休基金,日本的失败经验值得大马参考及警惕。

随着日本老龄化社会的到来,老年人在全国人口中所占比例不断提高,社会负担越来越重。另外,日本实行超低利率政策,股市又长期低迷,日本养老基金的资金运作十分困难。

日本厚生劳动省(卫生部)所管辖的养老金基金2001年至2003年曾连续三年出现巨额亏损,累计亏损达6 兆多日元。

日本政府2004年不得不大幅改革养老保险制度。改革的主要内容是:

●提高保险费。将交纳保险费的比例在原来占工资总额13.58%的基础上,每年以0.354%的幅度提高,到2017财年,将保险费提高到占职工工资总额的18.3% ;

●逐年降低向被保险者支付保险金的数额。计划将平均养老金支付额逐年降低到2023财年的50.2%;

●调整养老金发放方法。日本政府从2002年开始制定了一项“物价联动型养老金支付办法”,就是根据物价跌幅,减少养老金的支付额。

由于这几年的物价下跌,养老金支付额也相应减少。2002年平均每位养老保险金领取者的月收入减少了约7700日元左右。

不过,这样的养老保险改革使日本国民对保险制度失去信任,加剧了人们对失去劳动能力之后的不安心理。

许多投保者认为,养老保险制度现在就出现了问题,将来会怎样就更难说了。

年轻人拒绝加入

许多年轻人甚至拒绝交纳养老保险费。根据日本政府有关方面的统计,在应加入“国民年金”的人中,有37% 没有按照法律规定交纳保险费。拒绝交纳养老保险费问题成了日本养老金制度的一个不稳定因素。为

了解决部分人拒交保险费问题,日本政府已经决定采取查封银行存款、冻结个人资产等非常手段,强制人们交纳养老保险费。

俄罗斯退休金储蓄“上不封顶”

退休者养老金低、生活差,一直是俄罗斯最严重的社会问题之一。据统计,俄罗斯共有4000万退休者,数量几乎占到人口总数的30%。

目前,俄居民的基本退休金(完全由政府支付)每月只有553 卢布(1 令吉约合8卢布),大大低于俄最低生活标准1554卢布。近年来,俄罗斯老龄人口越来越多,加上法制不健全、社会保险活动不规范等各种复杂的社会原因,养老金改革成了俄政府最犯难的问题。

随着经济的好转,俄罗斯政府开始偿还前几年拖欠的大量退休金,同时着手进行养老金制度改革,其基本思路 是:从完全由国家拨款的退休金分配制,逐渐过渡到退休金个人储蓄制,即除了基本退休金外,个人在自愿的基础上,拿出一定比例的工资,存入退休储蓄基金账 户,由管理公司来管理这一账户。

有55私人退休基金

这一改革措施,一方面可减轻政府负担,另一方面使人们在退休后能够依靠退休金过上正常安稳的生活。

为了让居民有更多的选择,俄政府不仅有国有的退休储蓄基金管理公司,还允许私营基金管理公司吸纳居民的退休储蓄基金,但是对私营基金管理公司有着严格的准入制度。

目前,俄只有55家私营基金管理公司被准许进入退休储蓄基金市场。据了解,目前俄罗斯私营公司管理的退休储蓄基金业务发展迅速,估计到2010年,由私人基金管理公司管理的退休储蓄基金额,将占俄居民退休储蓄基金总额的10%。

私人基金管理公司可以投资股票等有价证券,比较灵活,利率也较高。

另外,俄政府相关机构还严密掌控这些基金的运作情况,保证即使这些公司破产也不会使退休储蓄基金受到损失。

德国人干满45年 才能拿全额退休金

德国是世界上最早颁布《养老保险法》的国家。德国联邦养老保险局的负责人说,德国养老保险实行个人、企业和国家共同负担制,最大的特点是实行代际协调制度,即由目前工作的人员承担退休人员的养老金。

正常情况下3 个劳动者负担一个退休者,但据预计,2O年后这个比例会降到1.3 ∶1 ,显然,那时整个养老金制度将崩溃。

目前,为了弥补整个养老金的亏空,德国政府补贴占养老金支出比重已由先前的四分之一上升到三分之一 ,财政不堪重负。为适应经济与社会的重大变化,德国正对养老保险制度进行重大改革,其中主要有以下几条措施:

●第一,努力实现政府、企业和个人三者间的平衡。

2002年,德国政府推出了“里斯特改革方案”,鼓励个人在参加法定养老保险的同时也参加其他养老保险计划。该方案规定,现在的就业者每投保一个附加养老金,政府就给予其一定数额的补助或税收上的优惠。

目前,德国政府每年拿出700 亿欧元补贴,并用部分生态税补充养老基金。据德国专家估计,在该计划的激励下,德国私人养老保险在整个养老保险金的比例将从近期的15% 增至3O%。

●第二,实现养老金交纳和支出平衡。

由于老龄化问题日益严重,养老金供求比例失调。为稳定养老保险体系,政府努力创造就业机会,增加就业人口,鼓励生育,希望增加未来养老金支付群体的数量。

同时,政府不断提高就业人员交纳养老保险费占其工资总额中的比率,2003年这一比率提高到19.5% ,今明两年可能升至19.8%。

●第三,提高退休年龄和工龄,控制提前退休。

德国的退休金全额为工资的70%。目前德国男性65岁、女性60岁就可以退休,但能拿到全部退休金的人 极少,因为法律规定只有工龄达到45年的退休者才能获得全额退休金。德国政府还计划从2011年开始把退休年龄从目前的65岁提高到67岁。同时,鼓励退 休者参加部分时间工作,对提前退休者则扣除其部分养老金。

南洋商报

涵盖退休及保险·回酬率高达14% 智利模式值得参考

究竟以大马的投资环境及社会情况,应该参考那一个国家的退休基金制度最合适?

陈文博认为,目前全球做得最好的退休基金来自智利。这个国家的退休基金管制得很好,而且具备保险的部分,让员工获得保障,也涵盖了社会险及医药保险等,而且每年的平均回酬达到10%至14%,规模等于国内生产总值的70%。

养老保险由私营机构直接参与管理和运营是智利模式的最大特色。养老基金管理公司(Pension Fund Administrators )是专门为管理养老金而成立的股份公司,直接管理个人账户中养老金的收缴、支付、投资等具体事宜。

按智利有关法律规定,只要能吸收到至少4000人以上的参与者,并拥有至少12万美元(约42万令吉)的资本,就可以注册成立一个养老基金管理公司。

但对于股票、债券的投资品种,必须经政府认可的私人风险评估公司进行风险平估后,才能成为养老基金总投资额的30% ,此举主要用于降低和防范风险。

另一重点是,政府在整个养老金计划中承担最后的风险。

当养老基金管理公司投资失败,受益准备金和现金准备金均不能保证最低受益时,由政府财政予以补贴。

除了智利外,以下也提供了一些国家的的退休基金计划供参考。

美国:养老责任多方承担

在美国,养老责任由政府、社会和个人等多方面共同承担。

美国社会保障制度的资金来源,主要是在职人员把工资所得的一部分作为“社会保障税”上交给政府,用于发放给已退休者、残疾人以及他们的家属,在职者退休之后便可以从社会保障制度中享有相应的福利。

随着战后“婴儿潮”一代人步入老年,美国的养老问题也日益突出。据预计,2018年前后,美国养老金年支出将会超过年收入,而到2042年前后,美国养老金将完全破产。因此,布什这一届政府的工作重点之一就是养老金制度的改革。

“三条腿”支持美养老金制度

美国的养老金制度靠“三条腿”支持:“第一条腿”是每个公民必须参加的社会保险,政府每年给予大量补贴:“第二条腿”是企业年金(即企业资助的职工个人储蓄账户):“第三条腿”是个人资金的各种收益。

美国政府还通过有关法律,以税收优惠等形式,来鼓励企业与雇员共同建立企业年金计划。公司为雇员的企业年金计划投入的资金,在一定限额内可作为营业费用列支,并从其应纳税款中扣除;雇员交纳的资金也可从其应纳个人所得税款中扣除或享受税收减免。这样,企业和雇员之间对建立企业年金计划都有较高的积极性。

据统计,目前美国人企业年金的资产总额已经占国内生产总值的66% ,不但是美国人养老金的主要部分,还为美国经济尤其是资本市场的发展提供了源源不断的资金来源。

金融风暴肆虐先进国人民延迟退休

退休基金虽好,但不等同于完全没有风险,而其弊病在这次的金融风暴中显现无疑,投资错误还导致许多居民选择延迟退休。

截至2008年,美国的退休金账户已缩水2 兆美元(约7 兆令吉),相当于账户总额的20% ,这一轮席卷华尔街的金融危机也同样正在侵蚀普通民众的养老储蓄,迫使许多美国人收紧开支,甚至推迟退休时间。

目前,美国国会正在全面调查金融危机的起因及危害。健康、教育、劳工和养老金委员会要求经济学家和分析人士研究房地产市场、信贷市场等出现的问题如何冲击美国民众的退休基金。

据知,参加退休金计划是美国民众进行储蓄的普遍形式。由于许多人都选择将其退休金存款投资于股市,所以这部分存款也是这场金融危机的“重灾区”。

阿根廷私退基金国有化

除了美国外,阿根廷政府为了偿还国债,把近300 亿美元(约1050亿令吉)私人退休基金国有化。

根据统计,阿根廷的私人退休基金拥有在布宜诺斯艾利斯证交所挂牌上市公司的5 %股权,与上市公司27%的在外流通股票。

多年前美国的安然事件,也导致许多雇员的退休金化为乌有。由于许多职工选择直接投资本公司的股票,一旦其服务的企业出现问题,员工很可能陷入养老积蓄与工作一起丢掉的困境。

多年来,安然为其员工投资美国退休基金。按照公司的建议,员工用账户中个人所存入的钱购买安然股票,而公司提供的配套资金也全部以股票形式支付。

该公司总值超过21亿美元(约73.5亿令吉)的职工养老基金中,安然股票占了58%。随着公司股票的大幅贬值,安然2 万名员工的退休基金化为乌有,损失高达数十亿美元(约35亿令吉)。

南洋商报

Sunday, August 16, 2009

The wealth management platform

INVESTORS who, on the suggestion or advice of their financial advisors, rebalance their portfolios or invest in unit trusts (for the first time) are usually ignorant of the fees incurred in doing so.

The more savvy ones may moan about the fees but can really do little about it apart from negotiating lower fees from the agent or financial advisor concerned.

Note that these agents and financial advisors are usually tied to a financial institution and, therefore, are more compelled to push its products.

Since it is illegal to charge lower fees without the consent of the institution they represent, there is a waiting period while the agent communicates with his or her principal.

According to the Securities Industry Development Corp, which provides education, training and information on the capital markets, there is a sales charge of 5% at the point of purchase, of which the agent takes a cut.

Tan

Besides this charge, there are management fees (1.5% per annum) and smaller trustee and miscellaneous fees that together may add up to another 0.14%.

There is also a switching fee payable to the unit trust management company for those who want to rebalance their portfolios.

However, financial advisors who are qualified corporate unit trust advisors (CUTAs) can choose to use a platform known as an “integrated wealth management platform” with a wrap-account function to advise their clients.

This is new in the local financial advisory scene but is not new in more advanced markets.

Fidelity Investments, for example, launched the Fidelity WealthCentral last December offering advisors a more efficient way to manage their clients’ portfolio.

Other platforms include those managed by SunGard (WealthStation) and Thomson Reuters (Thomson One Wealth Management).

In general, these wealth management platforms or sometimes known as fund platforms help advisors to consolidate all their clients’ investments in a single system integrating the front-office and back-office functions.

Among the primary front-office functions is the access to a comprehensive range of unit trusts instead of just the ones represented by agents tied to a particular fund house.

Another useful function is the consolidated statement which allows advisors and their clients to better keep track of the portfolio versus the days when funds were purchased from separate fund houses which then complicates the tasks of compiling an overview of the entire portfolio.

According to iFast Capital Sdn Bhd managing director Dennis Tan, whose firm launched an integrated platform last October, advisors spend less time on unnecessary paperwork and more time formulating the right portfolios for clients.

iFast Capital is a joint venture between OSK Investment Bank Bhd and Singapore-based iFast Corp Pte Ltd. Currently the platform has more than 70 funds from nine fund managers represented.

Besides iFast, another Singapore-based company, asset manager Phillip Capital Management (S) Ltd is also providing a platform similar to iFast’s that was launched end-June in Malaysia via its local subsidiary Phillip Capital Management Sdn Bhd.

Tan says one of the more attractive features, especially for those who choose to use the wrap-account function, are the lower fees as wrap-accounts typically consolidate all the fees normally associated with unit trust investments.

“Under the wrap-account function, advisors have the freedom to determine the upfront fee or sales charge from 0% to 5% but typically they charge 1% to 3% and sometimes even 0% if the account is large enough,” he tells StarBizweek.

Tan says the lower cost is achieved because no intermediary or agent is involved in the sale of the product since everything is done online. “There are no switching fees too when investors rebalance their portfolio,” he says.

Tan says this is to prevent advisors from churning or moving money around different funds unnecessarily to earn commissions. “The advisors earn their keep by charging an annual wrap fee of between 0.15% to 1.5% depending on the performance of the unit trust funds invested,” he says.

Tan says this way, the interests of advisors and clients are aligned.

Whitman Independent Advisors Sdn Bhd managing director Yap Ming Hui says since advisors now have choice of funds to invest in depending on the risk profile of the clients, there is no hard-sell of products that may not be in the best interests of the client.

iFast’s Tan says the wrap-account function is popular in Singapore, where it was launched in the early 2000s.

“We’ve more than 40% of the unit trust market in Singapore,” he says, adding that Aviva plc’s Navigator Investment Services Ltd is the only other major competitor in the Singapore market.

So far, CUTAs who have associated themselves with the iFast platform include Lion Wealth Advisors Sdn Bhd, Standard Financial Planner Sdn Bhd and Whitman Independent Advisors.

Thestar

Protect yourself and your liabilities

PAYING yourself first will ensure that there is savings, but that may not be sufficient. Sure, it provides the resources for one to better plan for the future but on its own, savings is very low yielding though it is liquid and “safe”.

Just like having a good workout physically, we cannot kickstart from a sedentary lifestyle straight to running a marathon. It takes a bit of building up before one can reach a certain level of fitness.

My father-in-law is a personification of “good life”, in the traditional Chinese sense. After sustaining a spinal injury at work, he swapped roles with my mother-in-law and became the stay-home dad. He kept himself active for 20 years looking after the home, his girls and ailing mother. However with the daughters grown up and married, his lifestyle has gone from active to sedentary. Unfortunately, his appetite remains hearty despite attempts to change his eating habits, and naturally his weight has piled on.

As luck would have it, he had problems with his insurance application earlier this year and through the urging (and nagging) of his wife and daughters he became determined to re-gain his fitness. Being a proud man, he rejected help from my wife’s ex-personal trainer. However, in his eagerness he pushed himself too hard physically and injured his bad back and shoulders as well. The next three months was thus spent undergoing physiotherapy.

Two lessons from this – (1) Age issue aside, he did not gradually build up his foundation before attempting more advance and strenuous exercise, thus straining himself. And (2) Don’t wait till it’s too late to get started.

Financial or money workout is not any different. I am encouraged to move beyond savings, the core focus of my money workout #1 – paying yourself first, to other aspects of money workout to provide a full spectrum of financial advice.

So to build a good foundation of financial strength, I shall start from protection. Protection is, in my mind, the basic level of wealth management. This is even before one embarks on investing to grow one’s wealth. Let’s start with a cliché – it is not about someone dying, it is about their loved ones continuing on with their lives.

Many people do not know what policies or coverage they have. Some don’t even bother to insure themselves because they think insurance is a waste of money! And to dismiss all the constant hounding from insurance agents, we have even perfected the script “got enough insurance already la” which rolls off our tongues without batting an eyelid. Many a times, we convinced ourselves so well that we really don’t know otherwise.

It is all about contingencies and with life’s uncertain twists and turns, who is to know what might happen? It is therefore important to ensure that we have adequate protection as it provides peace of mind knowing that if anything were to happen, our loved ones will not be left out in the cold.

When should one buy insurance? One should and could only buy insurance when one doesn’t need it, yet! When you need insurance, you will not be able to purchase it anymore. Pre-exisiting conditions are normally excluded from coverage. So today is the best day to start, protection planning is all about meeting contingencies. It’s everything about living too long, dying too young, or living with impaired health.

Here’s my guide: Money Workout #2 – Protect Yourself. How do we start?

Life coverage is about providing for loved ones in case of death or total permanent disability. How much life coverage is sufficient? I don’t subscribe to the rule of thumb that some insurance salespeople use to frighten you with – that is for coverage to be about 10 years of one’s income. It probably would be closer to 5 years of one’s expenditure (and not income). Hopefully after 5 years, the family would have adjusted to the loss and re-established their lifestyle without the deceased.

More often than not, the insurance provides for 5 years while other forms of savings and investments can also provide for a few more years of expense. If more coverage is needed, it might be boosted based on one’s ability to pay the additional premium or, alternatively consider term insurance. So if you spend RM5,000 a month or RM60,000 per year, the suggested minimum life insurance is RM300,000. There is no such thing as too much coverage, but there is the minimum amount that would be considered sufficient.

Critical Illness is about living with impaired heath. A definite must-have is critical illness rider to life insurance which usually covers the common illnesses such as heart attack, stroke and diabetes. When one is suffering from such critical illnesses, it is already tough on the family particularly if one is also the bread winner. Not to mention the sudden spike in medical costs which can increase the normal monthly expenses by many folds. Generally, I would imagine that the minimum amount needed would be in the range of RM300,000-RM500,000, especially if you take into consideration long-drawn illnesses such as kidney failure or a heart attack that may result in impaired health (and perhaps loss of income and job).

While on the topic insurance, I shall quickly jump into Money Workout #3 – Protect against your liabilities. This is about protecting yourself against outstanding liabilities, should anything happen to you. While we may provide for our loved ones, sometimes we forget that we have debts and liabilities which would be transferred to our loved ones as well. In this case, I provide one clear cut example.

Liabilities are what we owe others. And usually the largest debt that one has is the mortgage. And since most people have only one house, the mortgage is usually on the house that we call home. So it is important to make sure that if anything should happen to you, your biggest liability is totally paid off to avoid the burden on the family. Generally as our debts are repaid, this liability also falls over time, so the protection needs to be reducing in coverage over time. The bottom line is to have insurance that matches one’s liability closely. In this aspect, more is not necessary but less would be a burden.

Buying an insurance can be a taboo for some, since many tend to believe mishaps happen only to “others”. But a joke I came across smacks of reality: Needing insurance is like needing a parachute. If it wasn’t there the first time, chances are you won’t be needing it again.

I consider insurance to be the foundation of one’s overall financial wellness, even before embarking on investing. This provides a peace of mind for you and your family. Just look at the faces of your children and you will know that you must build this foundation well. Once done, and the remaining money can be better used to make more money, provided you have the risk appetite.

Tay Han Chong is senior vice-president and senior head of UOB’s personal financial services division--Thestar