On 5 February, AMCHAM welcomed senior representatives of the World Bank and Bank Negara Malaysia as part of their joint mission led by the World Bank’s Global Investment and Competition Unit.
This well-attended roundtable discussion was focused on how Malaysia’s tax incentives system can support new investments, particularly in emerging technology industries and R&D-related activities. Members shared with the visiting delegation their perspectives on how MNCs choose where to place new business lines or production facilities, and their experiences of the support and investment facilitation bodies that Malaysia makes available to foreign investors.
AMCHAM organized its first Members’ Briefing for the year on February 5th with an overwhelming response from members with many new faces. Siobhan Das, Executive Director of AMCHAM began the evening briefing by providing an update of what’s coming up in 2020 at AMCHAM. AMCHAM is happy to announce that we have got an exciting year coming up with some great programs lined up!
Deputy Chief of Mission, Dean Thompson of the U.S. Embassy of Kuala Lumpur updated members on the current state of business and economic issues impacting business in Malaysia, including the U.S-China trade situation and APEC 2020.
We also had a guest speaker, Mr. David Ng, Managing Director of International SOS, who provided an update on the current situation of the Novel Coronavirus outbreak.
The briefing session ended with a networking session at AMCHAM.
Knight Frank Malaysia has held its “Day of Giving” on 17 August (Saturday) at Dewan Taman Dusun Bandar, Kuala Lumpur. In conjunction with the Day of Giving, the company celebrated its annual Family Day together with the children from Yayasan Chow Kit. Hosted by the Sports and Social Club, staff from KFM HQ and site offices were invited to the event. Over 50 staff along with their families, also 20 children aged between 7 to 12 from Yayasan Chow Kit, together with their caretakers joined the event.
The day started with scrumptious breakfast served, followed by a series of competitive team games and interesting activities prepared by the event committee. Children from Yayasan Chow Kit and KFM staff were divided into groups to take part in the activities. The winning team with the highest points was rewarded with great prizes.
The main highlight of the day was the Dunking Machine fundraising activity. The senior management team from KFM actively participated by volunteering to sit on the dunk tank – a total of RM5,050 was raised for the children of Yayasan Chow Kit.
The total donation amounted to RM25,050 which includes the company’s contribution of RM20,000 and donation raised on the day itself was presented to the Centre Manager of Yayasan Chow Kit, Ms Pusenthi by Sarkunan Subramaniam, Managing Director of Knight Frank Malaysia.
AMCHAM was delighted to attend the release of Malaysia’s Trade Performance Results (2019) at MATRADE on Tuesday 04 February.
Despite a challenging global trade environment, Malaysia’s trade with the United States expanded for a sixth consecutive year. Total trade between the two nations grew by 5.6% to RM164.45 billion, constituting 9% of Malaysia’s total international trade. The United States is Malaysia’s third-largest trading partner for both imports and exports.
E&E exports from Malaysia to the U.S. were particularly strong in 2019 with a total value of RM50.91 billion – the highest figure since 2009!
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KUALA LUMPUR, February 4 – The American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) today released the results of an Economic Impact Survey that highlights the major contributions that American insurance companies are making to the Malaysian economy.
AMCHAM’s American member companies in the insurance sector have total investments of RM 31 billion in Malaysia, including invested premiums and reinvested profits. 36% of these investments are in bonds issued by the Malaysian government, while 19% are in Malaysian infrastructure investments and 7% in the local stock market.
Insurance penetration plays a key role in supporting national economic development, promoting growth by enabling risk-sharing, underpinning trade and investment transactions, and increasing the financial security of citizens. AMCHAM’s survey found that American insurance companies are playing a major role in increasing insurance coverage among Malaysian citizens, paying out claims worth RM1.73 bn in Malaysia in 2018.
Furthermore, American insurance companies are shown to be a valuable source of well-paid professional jobs with a total of almost 2,500 jobs spread across the entire country, with total gross salary payments to staff totaling RM 250 million in 2018. These American insurance companies are also major contributors to public revenues, paying RM 79 million in corporate income tax in 2018 plus a further RM 58 million in tax on salaries, EPF and SOCSO contributions.
Siobhan Das, Executive Director of AMCHAM, commented: “Given the specific business model of the insurance industry, it can be easy to underestimate the major economic impact that the big insurance players can make to the national economy. Several of our insurance members are long-term investors in Malaysia having been here for more than 40 years, and their business success is closely tied to the growth trajectory of the country. Higher levels of insurance penetration over the coming years will be key to achieving the government’s ‘Shared Prosperity Vision 2030’, and we are proud to be able to release these data points to capture the various ways in which our insurance members are supporting the Malaysian economy”.
