As a Malaysian, I bet you have heard about “Amanah Saham Nasional Berhad” (ASNB) before. They are famous for their fixed price funds. If you have never heard about it, I shall give you some brief information about this investment company.
ASNB is a subsidiary of “Permodalan Nasional Berhad” (PNB). It acts as the fund manager for funds launched by PNB since 1979.
Okay, honestly, its history does not concern us that much (or at all). What are the fixed price funds?
6 fixed price funds
The table below shows the funds available in ASNB.
| Fund Name | Logo | Asset Class | Eligibility | Financial Year End | Maximum Investment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) |  | Equity | Malaysian bumiputera* | December 31 | RM 200000 |
| Amanah Saham Bumiputera 2 (ASB 2) |  | Mixed asset | Malaysian bumiputera * | March 31 | RM 200000 |
| Amanah Saham Wawasan 2020 (ASW 2020) |  | Equity | Malaysian | August 31 | Unlimited, subject to availability of units** |
| Amanah Saham Malaysia (ASM) |  | Equity | Malaysian | March 31 | Unlimited, subject to availability of units** |
| Amanah Saham Didik (ASD) |  | Equity | Malaysian bumiputera | June 30 | Unlimited, subject to availability of units |
| Amanah Saham 1Malaysia (AS 1Malaysia) |  | Equity | Malaysian | September 30 | Unlimited, subject to availability of units** |
*Malaysian citizens of Siamese/Thai descendant, Portuguese/Eurasian descendant and non- bumiputera Muslim convert are also allowed.
**Each race has its own quota. Once the quota for your race is reached, you cannot purchase anymore.
Benefits
Why do I recommend these funds? I shall introduce their benefits now.
1. Fixed price (RM 1/unit) means there will be no price fluctuation. These funds can thus be regarded as saving accounts.
2. Money invested will not depreciate due to the fixed price. Worst case scenario will be that the value in the account remains constant. I do not foresee that ASNB will bankrupt.
3. These funds give consistent dividend. There is at least 6% dividend per year for all of these funds. It translates to 6% capital gain per year.
4. The dividend earned is not taxable. So, we do not have to worry about tax filing.
5. No sales charge. Unlike mutual funds or its own variable price funds, ASNB does not charge entry fee for these 6 funds.
6. On-the-spot redemption means you can get the money over the counter immediately. As long as it is a working day, you can withdraw your fund without any hassle (the only hassle may be the queue). Normally, you will receive cash for the redemption. Nonetheless, if the amount is too big, ASNB may issue cheque or use bank transfer. If you use money from Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to invest, the money from the redemption will go back to your EPF account.
Cons
What are the cons of these funds? Honestly, I could not think of anything bad about these funds. Though they are really too good to be true, I must say that they are REAL. The only drawback that I experienced last time was the requirement to go to the ASNB branch/agent to deposit. This problem is now mitigated with the opening of its online portal. However, the withdrawal must still be done over the counter. Maybe this is their only shortcoming.
Online portal MyASNB
This portal is functioning since June 2017. Once registered, you can check your balance and invest through the portal. The payment method will be done online through Financial Process Exchange (FPX).
How to register? First, you have to go to one of the ASNB branches or its agents (Maybank, Maybank Islamic, CIMB Bank, RHB Bank, Pos Malaysia, Affin Bank, Bank Simpanan Nasional, Alliance Bank, AmBank and AmBank Islamic). Update your personal details, especially your mobile phone number. Make sure the number is correct as you will receive Transaction Authorisation Code (TAC) on your phone. What to bring along? Only your MyKad.
After that, go to the portal (Link) and click on Register (“Dartar di sini”). Follow the instruction and you will set up your online account in no time.
Conclusion
What are you waiting for? If you do not have these funds yet, I strongly recommend you to get one. Go to ASNB branch or its agent to open an account. If you are a bumiputera, go ahead and max out on ASB and ASB 2. They are specifically created for you to earn money. However, if you are a non-bumiputera like me, you might not succeed at your first attempt to invest due to the quota. But I urge you to keep trying. Have patience and you will be rewarded. And do not forget to apply for MyASNB too!
Comments
Can I know that in your opinion, saving money in fixed deposit with maximum of 4%p.a is more worthy or the fixed price funds will be worthy?
Author
Hi Jia Jie,
In my opinion, the fixed price funds will be more worthy. A 2% difference makes a big difference when we compound it over many years. Throughout the years, these funds never missed a dividend. But I must point out that the dividend rate has been decreasing.
Nonetheless, if you are worried about the loss of money, I suggest you to put a small portion of your fund (maybe 20%) into the FD and the remaining into the fixed price funds. I do not think the ASNB funds are covered by PIDM, thus there is still a risk of losing your money if ASNB goes bankrupt (the chance is very slim though).
By the way, do you mind to share where can we get the 4% FD? Is it for a specific period only or the rate will be kept at 4% as long as the fund is deposited with the bank?
Hi, thank you so much for sharing. I’ve been searching through but the highest rate is Bank Islam. And I am sorry to say, the 4%p.a is for the 24months tenures and if they typical 12 months would just be 3.60%.
Author
Oh, I see. Thanks for sharing this information. Just make sure that these FDs are insured by PIDM. If not, it is better to invest in the ASNB fixed price funds.
Hope my opinion helps.
But one thing I still dont understand is, how does tge fixed funds work? Isit like we invest and the interest is compounded anually or like normal share that we buy and sell everyday? We only get the interest back when they end their account annually?
Author
It’s more like FD. The dividend will be declared annually and added into our account. We would not get the full year dividend if the money is not in the account for one full year. The dividend will be apportioned according to the duration of the deposit.
Hope this answers your question.
Hi, thank you so much for sharing.
I have some question:-
1) Can we withdraw like a certain amount? Example: invest 10k, but just withdraw it with 5k..
2) Can we withdraw through the online/Apps? Or must walk in the ASNB office/bank.
Thanks 🙏
I means is for ASM funds
Author
Hi, TPS.
Thanks for dropping by.
The answer for the first question is yes. You can decide the amount that you want to withdraw. But I would suggest you to keep the account active by leaving some funds in it.
For the second question, the answer is no. Unfortunately, we still have to withdraw over the counter for the time being.
Hi may I ask – will the variable fund like Sara 1 outperform FD despite being charged 3.5% on yearly basis?
Author
Hi, Steven.
First of all, I would like to clarify the 3.5% charge. Is that a sales charge? Or a management expense ratio (MER)? The sales charge is either 5% or 3%, according to its fact sheet. As for MER, it normally would not be this high.
To answer your question, I will make the assumption that 3.5% is the sales charge. But sales charge would not be charged annually, it is only charged when we make a new contribution. Back to the question, will the variable funds, specifically ASN Sara (Mixed Asset Conservative) 1, outperform FD?
When we first purchase the fund, 3.5% is deducted as sales charge. Assuming the FD interest rate is 3% (which is lower than the current rate), the fund needs to achieve a return of 6.5% just to be at the same par as FD. From the ASNB website, there is not a variable fund that had this performance in 2017. The performance of ASN Sara 1 is around 5% only in 2017 and 2018.
After the first year, assuming we do not make any new contribution, we will gain the full amount of dividend. Theoretically, we might get better returns than FD after the first year. However, this is not guaranteed.
Another thing to consider when buying the variable funds is that their price can fluctuate. In the above example, I have made the assumption that the unit price will stay at RM 1.00. However, as the name suggests, the price can move up or down depending on the market. Thus, the returns that we get will depend on the purchase price as well.
I think that there are other funds in the market that perform better than ASN Sara 1. Personally, I would not invest in these variable funds.
Hope I have answered your question.
Hi,
Thanks for the post, I tried to go to various bank to check for the fixed price fund. Seems like they no longer have any allocated units. Do you know is there anywhere I can get one of the fixed price fund?
Author
Hi, Alex.
I am sorry to say that you will need to wait till there is allocation.
Due to the quota, it is quite hard to buy these fixed price funds. It actually depends on your luck.
ASNB and its official agents are the only places where we can buy the funds.
Hello Leckas, thanks for the sharing. I was wondering if I deposit my money now into Amanah Saham Malaysia , its financial year ends at March 2019, will I get the dividend though? One more thing, where can i get the news whether there’s allocation?
Thank You!
Author
Hi, Isaac.
If I am not wrong, you will still receive the dividend but it will be apportioned based on the total months of deposit. However, I am not entirely sure about this.
Regarding the allocation, if you already have a myASNB account, you have to try to deposit every once in a while. This is what I do to find out if there is available allocation. If you do not have an account with ASNB yet, you will have to go to ASNB branches or its agents every now and then to ask about it. As far as I am aware, ASNB does not publicize this matter.
Hi Leckas
I wanted to drop a short note to say I truly appreciate this well detailed recent article on investing in Amanah Saham. I had invested in Amanah Saham in my 1st job (25 years ago) and over time I had forgotten about the availability of these funds, being sidetracked by other “well publicised” funds. It is refreshing to be updated and reminded by your article. The issue has always been the availability of units as you’ve quite clearly articulated in the Q&A section here. Nevertheless, I attest that this is a great investment opportunity specifically for Malaysians to grow a nice and relatively safe “nest”.
Happy investing!
Author
Hi, Adelena.
Thanks for your appreciation.
Up till now, these fixed price funds are truly safe and great investments.
Once again, thank you for sharing your opinion and experience with us.
Hi Leckas,
Thanks for the write up on ASNB and sharing your experience. Just wondering what will will be the adverse effect on the on-spot redemption.
Author
Hi, Cheryl.
Actually there is no adverse effect on the redemption. It is just that you need the time to personally go to withdraw the money. If there is a lot of people waiting at that time, you will spend more time just to withdraw your money. And if I am not wrong, cheque will be issued if the amount is over a certain limit. Then we will have to deposit the cheque in a bank. It is principally a time issue.
I hope I have answered your question.
Hi Leckas,
First I would like to thank you for this wonderful piece on ASNB, particularly for shedding light on their somewhat discreet fixed-priced unit trusts which I have heard so much about but hardly could find much info about in the public domain.
Acting on the advice of your article, I recently managed to register and obtain some units at one of their branches. I’m now planning to increase my deposit but would like to ask a question beforehand: Will I be able to liquidate my shareholdings ie redraw all my deposit at any time whenever I want OR will it be a problem? Reason being although given the background of ASNB that should make these funds quite secured, there’s still the risk of losing it all if it goes bankrupt (they are not secured by PIDM) and I want to make sure I can cash out before that.
Thanks and keep up the good work.
Author
Hi, Lawrence.
Thanks for your support.
It is good to hear that you managed to open an account of these fixed-price funds. As for your question, so far I did not hear or encounter any problem with withdrawal. Unless our country is in a really dire situation, I think the risk of losing all the money will be very small.
The only trouble is that we have to liquidate the holdings from ASNB branches or its agents.
Is the ASNB protected by any firm? Heard not under PIDM Protection… Is it safe?
Author
Hi, Mel.
As far as I know, these funds are indeed not under PIDM protection as they are considered as an investment instrument.
But some of these fixed price funds have been around for 10 or 20+ years and they have been paying dividends without fail, thus I think they are relatively safe. But if you want to compare with the fixed deposits (FD) of bank, FD are definitely safer as they are under PIDM protection.
However, given their higher returns, I would rather put my money in these funds than FD. But if the dividend rate drops below a certain level, maybe it is time to move to other instruments.
A very good article.
However,, maybe I can added a side note.
A lot of bank s, correcttion, all the banks are reluctant to open the account for you. I believe this is due to the difficulties on getting the units as you would need the min units (RM100) to open an account, Thus all the banks would ask you to go to the Main ASNB office or cawangan ASNB to open the account as they would be able to view instantly from the screen the available units.
Author
Hi, Lee.
Thanks for your insight.
Hi Leckas,
Thanks for the info!
I went to one of the ASNB branch to find out more but unfortunately the fixed price funds are full!
However, they introduced ‘ASNB Financial Planning Solution ‘ and there’s how I got a chance to invest to some of the units under ‘ASNB Financial Planning Solution’.
This plan enables me to invest 60% in ASN Equity 5/ 40% in ASM.
Leckas, I would like to know your opinion about the above plan and can I invest in ASM directly next time or I have to invest in ASN Equity 5 in order to get more units in ASM?
I really appreciate your opinion and thank you in advance!
Phang
Author
Hi, Phang.
I am unfamiliar with the ASNB Financial Planning Solution. I could not find much information about it on the internet. So I can’t give my opinion on the plan. I personally would not purchase the variable price funds as the returns were not that great. However, the ASN Equity 5 is a relatively new fund, so hopefully it will fare better than the old funds.
Nonetheless, I think you already have myASNB account when you acquire both funds. If you log in to myASNB account and find 2 separate funds listed in your portfolio, you should be able to invest in ASM without investing in ASN Equity 5. Would you try this first and update me? You should try this during trading hours to see if it is working.
Just to let you know, the dividend rate of ASM has dropped in this year but it is still higher than most of the other investment instruments. So, for the time being, I think it is still worthwhile to invest in ASM.
Hope my reply helps.