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00:04 AMNB Holdings and MetLife International Holdings are proposing to divest their jointly-owned
00:09 insurance and takaful businesses to Singapore's Great Eastern Holdings for approximately
00:14 RM1.12 billion. Great Eastern is a unit of OCBC Bank. AMNB's wholly-owned AMAB Holdings owns 50%
00:22 minus one share in M MetLife Insurance and 50% plus one share in M MetLife Takaful,
00:28 with the remaining stake in both units owned by MetLife. The plan is for Great Eastern Life
00:33 Assurance Malaysia and Great Eastern Takaful buying 100% share capital in M MetLife Insurance
00:39 and M MetLife Takaful. Post-acquisition, both M MetLife Insurance and M MetLife Takaful will be
00:45 merged and integrated with Great Eastern Life Assurance and Great Eastern Takaful, respectively.
00:50 According to AMNB's BOSS filing, the proposal will also see these four insurance units entering
00:55 into exclusive 20-year bank assurance and bank takaful agreements for the distribution of life
01:01 insurance and family takaful products through the distribution network of AMNB's banking
01:06 subsidiaries. In a statement, AMNB Group CEO Dato' Sulaiman Muhammad Tahir said that the
01:12 synergistic integration will provide the bank with the advantage of securing economies of scale that
01:17 will translate into superior customer value, enhanced by its combined and complementary
01:22 capabilities in product design, digital innovation and distribution expertise.
01:27 According to MetLife and M MetLife's websites, their strategic partnership can be dated back to
01:32 April 2014, when MetLife took up half of the shareholdings in M Life Insurance and M Family
01:38 Takaful at a price of US$812 million or US$249 million. The proposal is subject to, amongst
01:46 others, the prior written approval of Bank Negara and/or the Minister of Finance and the Monetary
01:51 Authority of Singapore.
01:52 The World Bank reduced its forecast for Malaysian economic growth as measured by gross domestic
02:02 product to 3.9% this year from 4.3% projected previously amid substantial deceleration in
02:09 external demand. However, the bank raised its 2024 projection for Malaysian GDP to grow 4.3%
02:15 up from 4.2% previously, according to its East Asia and Pacific October 2023 Economic Update,
02:23 published on Monday. Lead economist from Malaysia Dr. Apurva Sangi said the country's
02:28 economy is expected to be driven by recovery in global growth, the tourism sector and anticipated
02:34 higher oil prices. He explains that the economy is expected to face significant external risks
02:40 and that deeper global growth shocks could potentially result in a more significant
02:44 slowdown than anticipated. Sangi said the base effect also plays a role in the World Bank's
02:49 GDP's growth forecast, given that the country's economy rebounded 8.7% last year, so expansion
02:56 is projected to moderate in 2023 before accelerating in 2024. As the economy continues to grow,
03:02 Sangi said it is expected that poverty and income inequality will further decrease,
03:08 provided that it is accompanied by policies that enhance inclusiveness. Meanwhile, the bank says
03:13 that Malaysia's economy is required to open its services sector like digital, legal, accounting,
03:19 logistics and transports in order to continue attracting both foreign and domestic investments.
03:24 Sangi points out that Malaysia's investment-to-GDP ratio has been consistently coming down
03:29 since the Asian financial crisis, from a high of over 40% of GDP to below 20% today. He adds that
03:36 proactively liberalising services will remain key in boosting Malaysia's investment and new
03:42 industrial master plan 2030's success story execution.
03:46 Pay TV provider Astro Malaysia Holdings announced that it will close down its home shopping business
03:56 under GoShop from October 11, citing challenging overall economic landscape and the changes in
04:02 consumer shopping behaviour. In a statement, Astro elaborated that there has been a significant
04:07 downturn in this mode of shopping since the COVID-19 pandemic and closure will ensure that
04:13 the group's resources are focused on business lines that contribute the biggest difference
04:17 to the overall operations. Astro and its Korean JV partner GS Retail have decided that AstroGS Shop,
04:24 which operates the home shopping business, will cease operations beginning October 11.
04:29 It is noted that GoShop is not considered a material subsidiary of the group and is not
04:33 expected to have a material effect on the group's consolidated EPS and net assets per share or
04:39 gearing for the financial year ending January 31, 2024. GoShop started in 2015 as Astro's first
04:46 foray into the e-commerce domain, enabling Malaysians to shop anytime, anywhere 24/7 and
04:52 is also present in Singapore and Brunei. According to Astro's 2023 annual report, the group had fully
04:58 impaired its cost of investment in GoShop, amounting to $48.1 million following the subdued
05:03 consumer sentiment, changes in consumer behaviour as customers returned to physical stores,
05:08 and continuing losses during FY2023.
05:11 Budget 2024, which is slated to be tabled in Parliament next week, will be a prime opportunity
05:22 for the government to undertake fiscal consolidation reforms to avoid running off a fiscal cliff.
05:28 With the growing burden on Putrajaya's coffers, Social Economic Research Centre Executive Director
05:33 Lee Heng Wee said, "Budget 2024 serves as a window of opportunity for the government to
05:38 unveil a measured pace of fiscal reform so that the following years running up towards the 16th
05:43 general election can be utilised to quell discontent from voters over unpopular policy moves."
05:50 Lee said it is crucial for the government to come to "political sense and economic sanity"
05:55 to avoid a fiscal cliff, namely conflict over constant increases in the debt ceiling due to
06:00 an unsustainable budget deficit as seen in the US currently. In view of this,
06:05 Lee foresees that Budget 2024 will focus more on operating expenditure and will be characterised by
06:11 the introduction of "necessary but unpopular" measures, including targeted petrol subsidies,
06:17 as well as scheduled implementations of the previously announced capital gains tax on
06:21 non-listed shares and luxury goods tax. Lee also notes that a reform of the civil service must be
06:28 done to "improve the quality and value of public services-based performance and productivity-linked
06:33 salary systems." Towards this, he shared his disagreement with the government's previously
06:37 announced plan to detail a civil servant salary rise in Budget 2024, as he said things of this
06:43 nature should only be done until the ongoing "cooperative study of salary and retirement
06:48 schemes is completed in 2024." Another of Lee's hopes for Budget 2024 is a 12-month pre-announced
06:55 reintroduction of the GST at a lower introductory rate of 4-5%, compared with 2015's 6% towards
07:03 addressing the nation's unsustainable tax base.
07:11 Shares in Baustat Plantations fell as much as 27 cent, or 18.5%, in the morning session,
07:17 ahead of the second cut-off date of October 6 for the proposed acquisition of the Armed
07:22 Forces Fund Board-owned group by Kuala Lumpur-Kepung. B-Plant was among Bursa Malaysia's
07:27 topmost active, with over 46 million shares traded, as the counter ended Monday 13% lower
07:33 at RM1.27. Following the steep decline, Bursa suspended its proprietary day trading,
07:39 and intraday short-selling of B-Plant shares for the rest of Monday. The sell-off sparked
07:44 concerns that KLK's acquisition of the plantation group could be facing hurdles. Both KLK and LTAT
07:50 declined to comment when contacted. The cut-off date for the proposal was first extended to
07:55 September 22 from the original September 11 deadline. It was then extended again for another
08:01 two weeks to October 6. The deal has been in the spotlight as opposition leaders claim that
08:06 the deal does not fit with the government's aim of achieving the Bumiputra corporate equity target
08:12 of 30% by 2025, as underlined in the 12th Malaysia Plan. In response, Defence Minister
08:18 Datuk Syir Mahmad Hassan said that during the bidding process, Tradewinds Corp, controlled by
08:23 Taekun Tan Sri Said Mokhtar Al-Bukhari, was the only Bumiputra company that had ultimately submitted
08:29 a bid, which eventually turned out to be too low.
08:32 [Music]
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