Non chex systems bank and Rants

Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) has launched a capital protected investment plan called 1Malaysia Momentum Structured Deposit (M3), with a target fund size of RM100 million.

The M3 is a five-year investment product issued by Maybank via floating rate negotiable instruments of deposit (FRNID) that comes with 100 per cent capital protection if the FRNID is held to maturity or autocalled.

The product is offered to investors at a minimum investment amount of RM65,000 with additional investment in multiples of RM5,000, the bank said in a statement on Thursday.

Closing date for the M3 is Dec 31, 2009, or earlier if fully subscribed, it said.

According to Maybank, the M3 is based on a strategy represented by the 1Malaysia Momentum Index, which provides investors with the opportunity to gain exposure into underlying assets that are closely related to the Malaysian economy.

Malaysian equities is one of the underlying assets and commodities such as crude oil, natural gas, cocoa and palm oil represent a large part of Malaysia’s exports while gold has been a safe haven in times of volatility, said Maybank’s senior executive vice president and head of consumer banking, Lim Hong Tat.

“The M3 Index adopts a ‘closer to home investment strategy’, providing exposure to underlying assets closely tied to the Malaysian economy,” he said.

The M3 is the second structured deposit with autocall feature from Maybank this year, following the Maybank Autocall Structured Deposit which was launched in April to tap opportunities in China.

– BERNAMA