Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) has launched Raiz, an innovative micro-investing app that lets the public invest in Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd (ASNB) unit trust funds with amounts as low as RM5.

Raiz seeks to make investing more effortless and accessible to all Malaysians, allowing them to proactively save and invest in ASNB’s unit trust funds. Users are not required to maintain a minimum amount to open or keep their Raiz accounts or pay any commission fees to invest. Additionally, the app will recommend a personalised investment portfolio when you register, customised to fit your risk appetite and financial goals.

To invest with Raiz, you have the usual options of putting in a lump sum amount or setting up recurring investments on a daily, weekly, fortnightly, or monthly basis. However, what sets Raiz apart is its round-up feature, which lets you automatically save and invest the virtual spare change from your everyday purchases. It essentially rounds up your daily transactions to the nearest amount when you pay with your card linked to the app, and “collects” the spare change for the minimum RM5 needed to invest in your selected funds.

“With the launch of the Raiz app, and with more than 90% of Malaysians now using the smartphone, it means that almost anyone can start investing this way. As the saying goes, “sikit-sikit lama-lama jadi bukit“. In today’s technological age, we no longer need to save in coin boxes. Instead, we can do it with Raiz,” said the group chairman of PNB, Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz.

At present, however, users can only link the Raiz app to their Maybank debit cards and accounts as Raiz has partnered exclusively with the bank. “At the initial stage, we are starting with Maybank, given its extensive customer reach. Next year, Raiz will be made available to other partners and we will welcome more partners from other banking institutions and e-wallet providers to be part of this, because our agenda is to encourage Malaysians to save and invest even with a very small amount of money,” said Tan Sri Zeti.

Interestingly, the Raiz app has actually been made available online since1 June 2020, and has since garnered 15,000 users. PNB has set a target of 60,000 signups by the end of 2020.

The Raiz app is developed by Raiz Malaysia Sdn Bhd, a joint-venture company between Jewel Digital Ventures Sdn Bhd (a subsidiary of PNB) and Raiz Invest Australia Ltd (a subsidiary of Raiz Invest Ltd). You can download the app for free from Google Play and the App Store. Alternatively, find out more about the Raiz app on its website.

(Source: The Star)

• TAGS:
• Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd
• Micro Investment
• Micro-Investing Apps
• Permodalan Nasional Berhad
• PNB
• Raiz
• Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz