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Investments, My Rights!
Are you the type of investor who buys shares
and just wait, wishfully, for the price to go up? Do you care
whether the company you have invested your hard-earned money
in is performing well and has good corporate governance? And
if there is improper handling of your money by a stockbroker,
if or a public-listed company that you have invested in gives
out misleading information about its operations and business,
know to whom you should lodge your complaint?
Many investors in Malaysia are not aware of
their rights and responsibilities. You may be investing in
shares, unit trusts, futures, options, bonds, warrants etc.,
but are you aware that for every type of investment you make,
you have to exercise your rights and responsibilities?
You have rights:
Generally, as an investor, you have:
- rights
as a shareholder of a company (if you invest in the stock
market); and
-
rights as a customer to high quality products and services
from your stockbroker/remisier or futures broker/registered
representative or unit trust management company/unit trust
agent
In Malaysia, investors are protected under
several laws including the Companies Act 1965, Securities
Commission Act 1993, Securities Industry Act 1983,
Futures Industry Act 1993 , Securities Industry Central Depositories
Act 1991, and the rules of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange
(KLSE) and Malaysia Derivatives Exchange (MDEX).
When
you invest by buying shares in a company, you expect the company
to deliver profits and give you a fair return on your investment.
However, time and again, investors have seen the value of
their investments destroyed through poor corporate governance
practices by either the controlling shareholders or corporate
managers or both. Well-publicised corporate governance abuses
have revealed insiders stripping companies of their assets
by various means, or directors failing to perform their fiduciary
duties to protect the company’s assets and interests
and committing the company to loss-making projects.
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