Hong Leong Bank (HLB) and Hong Leong Islamic Bank (HLISB) have been appointed as the latest authorised agents of ASNB to offer ASNB unit trust funds.
Datuk Dr. Md Hamzah Md Kassim, Chairman of HLISB and Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar, the Group Chairman of Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) attended the opening ceremony. Also present were Domenic Fuda, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of HLB, Jasani Abdullah, Chief Executive Officer of HLISB and Datuk Abdul Rahman Ahmad, President & Group Chief Executive of PNB.
The appointments were completed with the signing of the agreement between ASNB and HLISB on 14 December 2017 and HLBB on 5 January 2018. Effective 1 June 2018 both HLB and HLISB will start offering all 12 ASNB funds comprising six fixed priced funds and six variable priced funds.
“We are excited that through this strategic collaboration with ASNB, we can now provide a more diversified range of investment offerings that can generate long-term, consistent and competitive returns to our customers,” said Datuk Dr. Md Hamzah. The ASNB funds are good investments to be added to one’s portfolio. We believe that more of our customers will find great value in subscribing to these funds easily and efficiently through our extensive banking channels,” he added.
In line with the Bank’s “Digital at the Core” vision, HLB and HLISB will make available in the near future online top-up for ASNB fixed priced funds via Hong Leong Connect and the banks internet-banking platform.
Abdul Wahid in his speech said, “PNB welcomes this appointment and is pleased to partner with HLB and HLISB as our authorised agent banks as we reach out to more customers through their wide network. ASNB today has 12 unit trust funds and manages 228.8 billion units in circulation owned by over 13.3 million account holders, and we are confident this collaboration will contribute to our growth. And this initiative will increase the number of ASNB agents to 10 institutions with a network of 2,572 branches nationwide.”
“Moving forward, we hope the ASNB unit trust funds are more accessible to the investing public. And in line with the recent rebranding of our variable price unit trust funds, the collaboration will support our effort to help new and existing unit holders to make the right investment decision tailored to their personal goals, tenures and risk tolerance to achieve maximum returns.”
