The week at a glance 15 Ocotober 2017

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Sabah & Sarawak

ASLI CEO: Sarawak is still ‘the state to watch’

Sarawak is still in the spotlight as the Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute (ASLI) pegs the state as being one to ‘watch out for’ in Malaysia in terms of economic and industrial transformation and development over the next 20 years.

This sentiment was shared by ASLI chief executive officer Tan Sri Dr Michael Yeoh during the fourth edition of the annual Sarawak Business and Investment Summit on Monday.

 

AXA Affin Life opens new branch in Sibu

AXA Affin Life Insurance Bhd (AXA Affin Life) has opened a new branch office at Wong King Huo Road. This new opening marks the financial protection services provider’s objective of increasing the frequency of customer’s contact to co-create more value for their clients and at the same time, expanding its agency force through dedicated recruitment and training modules.

 

Newly-formed committee to drive oil palm trunk industry development

A newly formed national committee has been tasked with driving the development of the oil palm trunk (OPT) industry, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong said.

 

Delegation to meet European Parliament members on palm oil 

A Malaysian Palm Oil Board delegation is set to meet members of the European Parliament in Brussels next week to address issues pertinent to palm oil. Malaysian Palm Oil Council chief executive officer, Dr Kalyana Sundram, said they would also discuss several issues regarding the MEP’s Draft Report on legislative or non-legislative issues, including environmental and health concerns.

 

AmBank set sights onto business banking expansion in Sarawak

Despite achieving RM5.5 billion of new business loan applications in the first half of their financial year, AmBank Group Bhd (AmBank) setting its sights on expansion in Sarawak with new business centres and its ‘AmBank BizRace’ campaign. Speaking to The Borneo Post in an exclusive interview, AmBank’s managing director for its business banking segment Christopher Yap revealed that the group is currently in the process of interviewing prospective team members to join and expand their Sarawakian operations.

 

National

ABM refutes allegations of hardships faced by housebuyers to get housing loans

The Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) has strongly refuted allegations regarding the hardships of house buyers to get housing loans as per reported in a local news daily recently. In a statement, ABM said the article, titled ‘More developers helping homebuyers with their downpayment’ on Sept 20, 2017, also alleged that the loan approval time was increasing.

 

Sentiment turns positive on FGV’s Zakaria resuming duties

Analysts are generally positive on the news that Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd’s (FGV) chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Zakaria Arshad will be resuming his duties following a leave of absence relating to the long outstanding debt of Safitex Trading LLC (Safitex) with Delima Oil Products Sdn Bhd (Delima Oil).

 

PUNB urges public to report misuse of PUNB’s brand name

The public has been urged to report any parties or individuals misusing the Perbadanan Usahawan Nasional Bhd (PUNB) brand name to serve their own purposes. Chairman, Tan Sri Mohd Ali Rustam, said in the past two months,

PUNB had made three police reports on the misuse of PUNB’s brand name, logo and acronym.

 

Bursa Malaysia to close for Deepavali

Bursa Malaysia Bhd and its units will close on Wednesday, October 18, 2017 for Deepavali. Bursa Malaysia said it will resume operations on Thursday, Oct 19. 2017.

 

GTMP aims for RM180 bln revenue, 200,000 jobs by 2030

The Green Technology Master Plan (GTMP) aims to boost growth of Malaysia’s green technology sector, with targeted revenue of RM180 billion, while creating more than 200,000 green jobs by 2030. The plan outlines Malaysia’s green technology strategy to create a resource-efficient, low-carbon footprint economy.

 

Asean central banks and monetary authorities renew ASA

Asean Central Banks and Monetary Authorities have agreed to renew the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the ASEAN Swap Arrangement (ASA) for another two years from Nov 17, 2017, providing a total of US$2.0 billion in financial support.