Wednesday June 6, 2012
By WONG WEI-SHENweishen.wong@thestar.com.my
KUALA LUMPUR: Manulife Holdings Bhd's unit trust arm Manulife Unit Trust Bhd (MUTB)
is looking to its partners in Hong Kong and the United States to find
the best information technology (IT) system to enable ease of
implementation of Malaysia's first private retirement scheme (PRS).
MUTB executive director Jason Chong
said: “We are leveraging on our Manulife operations throughout the
world. We are learning from all these countries, through the systems
that they have in place in order to find the best fit for the Malaysian
market.”
He added that MUTB is looking at the best practices, strengths and weaknesses of the PRS market in Hong Kong.
“In terms of the IT systems and programmes that they have, I think it is very impressive,” he said.
On PRS:
Chong (right) speaking about the private retirement scheme in Malaysia.
With him are pension fund experts Boyda (middle) and Hung.
MUTB
held a roundtable meeting with Manulife Asset Management head of global
asset allocation, senior portfolio manager or portfolio solutions group
Robert Boyda and Manulife Provident Funds Trust Co Ltd chief executive officer Luzia Hung to get best practices insight from them to incorporate PRS in terms of operations and products.
In
April, the Securities Commission (SC) announced the approval of eight
firms to offer PRS services to the public. The eight firms are
AmInvestment Management, American International Assurance,
CIMB-Principal Asset Management, Hwang Investment Management, ING Funds,
Manulife Unit Trust, Public Mutual, and RHB Investment Management.
The
SC has given six months for the firms to comply with conditions set out
by the SC, which includes its approval for the firms' schemes and fund
under the PRS. All firms are looking to meeting the Oct 6 deadline to
launch their PRS schemes and funds.
Chong said MUTB was in the advance stage of PRS product development and was currently checking out some ideas.
PRS
was first proposed by the Government under the Capital Market
Masterplan 2 to encourage additional savings. It is voluntary in
participation and contribution, and is targeted at all segments of the
population, namely the employed and self-employed who have disposable
income.
It will provide a framework for a viable and secure
private pension industry to co-exist alongside the mandatory retirement
schemes operated by the Government and will provide an alternative
mechanism for voluntary savings to grow.
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