In line with corporate responsibility efforts, a Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign was held in the month of October 2020 where Bursa Malaysia Berhad (“Bursa Malaysia” or the “Exchange”) pledged RM10 for every CDS account opened by female investors. Bursa Malaysia is pleased to announce that a total of RM219,240 was raised, which will be donated to the National Cancer Society of Malaysia (NCSM) to support their awareness and cancer screening outreach programme for communities across the Klang Valley, especially for underprivileged women in the bottom 40 per cent segment (B40).
Six Participating Organisations - AmInvestment Bank Berhad, Hong Leong Investment Bank Berhad, JF APEX Securities Berhad, KAF Securities Sdn Bhd, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd, and RHB Investment Bank Berhad, offered a wide range of promotions that included discounts and free educational webinars, to encourage more women to start their investing journey.
In addition to the funds raised, Bursa Malaysia also saw a 191 per cent increase of CDS accounts opened by women during the campaign period (October - December 2020), compared to the same period the previous year. On a year to year basis, there was a 111 per cent increase of total new CDS account openings, recording 85,103 in 2020 as compared to 40,416 account openings for the year 2019.
“This initiative is part of the Exchange’s efforts in promoting gender equality in the marketplace and to reduce the gender investing gap as women currently account for only 32% of investors in the capital market,” said Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift, Chief Executive Officer of Bursa Malaysia. “I am very pleased that our broker community joined us in making this campaign a success.”
During the virtual cheque presentation ceremony, Minister of Finance, YB Senator Tengku Datuk Seri Utama Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said, “Thank you Bursa Malaysia and brokers for supporting the government’s effort in strengthening women’s welfare and making Malaysia a better country for women. This is an important cause for us and is reflected in Budget 2021 themed 'Teguh Kita, Menang Bersama' which also seeks to provide for women with high risk of breast cancer.”
President of NCSM, YBhg Dato’ Dr. Saunthari Somasundaram (DPMP), expressed her appreciation with the campaign. “NCSM is extremely grateful to be able to partner with Bursa Malaysia and its brokers. Support like this from organisations will enable us to go out into communities throughout the country and help increase access for early detection and screening of cancer,” she said during the ceremony.
To watch the virtual cheque presentation ceremony, head over Bursa Marketplace YouTube page at https://youtu.be/15ojLx0ek3g
Individuals and companies who are interested to find out more or to support NCSM can log on to https://cancer.org.my/ or contact 1800-88-1000.
