SC Introduces Initiatives To Encourage Youth Participation In Capital Market

Alex Cheong Pui Yin

8th August 2023 - 3 min read

In a bid to cultivate the vibrancy of Malaysia’s capital market, the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) said that several initiatives will be rolled out to encourage youth participation and investment in the market. In addition to kickstarting its new InvestED Leadership Programme 2023 with the first cohort, the SC also announced a university adoption scheme by stockbroking companies to promote greater understanding of the capital market.

With regard to the InvestED Leadership Programme, the chairman of the SC, Datuk Seri Dr Awang Adek Hussin said that the first cohort of this SC-led flagship graduate programme has already been selected, and the chosen individuals will first need to go through a one-month comprehensive and interactive learning module conducted by the Asia School of Business (ASB). Following that, they’re required to complete a six-month training with invested partners from the industry.

Datuk Seri Dr Awang Adek also shared that the response to the programme has been overwhelming, with more than 2,000 applications received. There were, however, only spots for 200 individuals.

“The SC’s partnership with the Asia School of Business (ASB) today further strengthens the programme’s credibility and reinforces our commitment to provide programme participants with the necessary capital market industry knowledge needed to be market ready. We see this initiative as vital for an industry with high talent mobility and demand like the capital market,” Datuk Seri Dr Awang Adek further said, adding that InvestED was also the first collaboration between the SC, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), as well as the capital market industry and universities.

The SC is currently expected to continue the InvestED programme for three years, in hopes that the programme will be able to positively impact the industry in the future.

Aside from InvestED, Datuk Seri Dr Awang Adek also revealed that the Association of Stockbroking Companies Malaysia is introducing an adoption scheme where stockbroking companies will “adopt” a university to educate its lecturers and students about the industry.

“Under the scheme, each company would adopt a university to plan and work with students and lecturers to promote greater understanding and appreciation of the capital market. For instance, the company can assist lecturers in crafting a course related to the capital market to be taught to students,” said Datuk Seri Dr Awang Adek.

Additionally, participating companies can assist students in establishing investing clubs to build awareness of investment opportunities in the capital market. Ultimately, these initiatives will not only expose students to how the capital market works, but also boost their employability and teach them about financial scams.

Finally, Datuk Seri Dr Awang Adek stressed that these initiatives are necessary in order to encourage more young individuals to invest in the capital market. To underline the gravity of the situation, he shared that investors aged 45 and below made up only 7% of the total number of investors in the stock market, whereas those between the age of 20 to 30 are believed to be even lesser. Most remisiers, meanwhile, are currently aged 50 and above.

“The capital market industry needs an injection of new blood, both as employees as well as investors. We need young executives to attract young investors as they are more tech-savvy and they understand each other better,” Datuk Seri Dr Awang commented.

(Source: The Star)

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Alex Cheong Pui Yin

Previously covered recruitment-related stories and had a short stint as a copywriter for the property industry. She subsequently developed an interest in investment and robo-advisors.

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