Getting the most out of an investment

Kuala Lumpur, March 22, 2006: Knowing how much risk you can stomach, and deciding where to invest your money can cause many a sleepless night.

But such worries can now be a thing of the past – thanks to the Multi-Funds Investment Platform launched today by RHB Unit Trust Management Bhd (“RHBUT”).

The platform, that takes investors through the three stages of assessing the potential investor’s risk tolerance, making a short-list of potentially suitable funds, and determining asset allocation for each fund, promises to take most of the worries out of investing.

“The retail investor will benefit most from the potential gains that can be derived from using the RHB Multi-Funds Investment Platform,” said RHBUT Chief Executive Officer Mr Michael Tan.

“In short, we provide the total solution to the investor,” Mr Tan added.

In conjunction with the launching of the RHB Multi-Funds Investment Platform, RHBUT also signed new Smart Partnership Agreements with four business partners. They are Oscar Wealth Advisory Sdn Bhd, Arrow Solutions (M) Sdn Bhd, Standard Financial Planners Sdn Bhd, and Maximas Group.

Similar platforms to guide retail investors in unit trust funds are now widely used in North America as well as Australia. RHBUT is believed to be the first unit trust management company in Malaysia to introduce such a system to take investors through the vagaries of buying and selling their interests in unit trust funds.

Under the RHB Multi-Funds Investment Platform, a potential investor is first taken through the Psychometric Financial Risk Tolerance Profiler. This “risk assessor” is brought to RHBUT customers under a partnership with Deakin International, a provider of financial planning services that developed the system.

The potential investor is required to fill out a questionnaire and his response is scientifically assessed to give a fairly clear picture of his risk profile. “In short, it gauges the person’s reaction to various situations and decides how much he is willing to put on the line for his investments to pay off,” Mr Tan explained.

Once the level of risk he is willing or prepared to accept is determined, the potential investor’s profile is sent to the second stage of the Multi-Funds Investment Platform to determine the type of funds that are suitable for him.

This is done at the Fund Analysis portal, co-developed with Perkasa Normandy Advisors, an independent investment advisor which provides a selection of recommended or preferred unit trust funds to potential investors.

The financial planner will compare the response from the potential investor with the recommended list to find funds with risk levels that most closely match the investment risk profile of the potential investor.

The short-list of funds is then taken to the last stage of the Multi-Funds Investment Platform – the Investment Optimizer – that helps the financial planner decide how best to optimise his client’s investment portfolio in relation to the risk taken.

The Investment Optimizer is a tool developed jointly with Axel Thompson to properly allocate a potential investor’s portfolio among the short-listed funds.

Mr Tan said all potential investors would be taken through the three stages of the RHB Multi-Funds Investment Platform to ensure that they not only are aware of the potential return but also the risk taken when constructing an investment portfolio.

“This is to ensure that people do not invest blindly. We want them to be aware that while there is much to gain from investing in unit trusts, such investments do carry a certain level of risks. We want to help them to optimise investment return and at the same time, manage the investment risks,” he added.

Oscar Wealth Advisory, Arrow Solutions, Standard Financial Planners and Maximas Group will be using the RHB Multi-Funds Investment Platform when constructing investment portfolio with their clients.

With the RHB Multi Funds Investment Platform, RHBUT now markets 60 funds in 10 different asset classes. Apart from its own funds, RHBUT also markets funds by Pheim Unit Trust Bhd, CMS Trust Management Bhd, CIMB-Principal Asset Management Bhd, Hwang-DBS Investment Management Bhd and Alliance Unit Trust Management Bhd.

RHB Unit Trust is a subsidiary of RHB Sakura Merchant Bankers Bhd, the wholly-owned merchant banking group of RHB Capital Bhd. It currently manages more than RM1.6 billion in total fund size.

For more information on RHB Unit Trust funds, please call 1-800-88-3656, visit www.rhb-unittrust.com.my or any RHB Bank branch.