Malaysian Unit Trust Promotional Strategies With Customer Motivation

The unit trust industry in Malaysia was first established by British investors in 1959 with the introduction of the Malayan Unit Trust Ltd. It is called unit trust instead of mutual fund because the ownership of the fund is divided into units of entitlement. Initially, the growth of the unit trust in Malaysia was very slow due to lack of public interest. The turning point for the industry was when the Malaysian government decided to enter into the industry by launching a government sponsored unit trust known as Amanah Saham Nasional (ASN). Among the strategies are personal selling,advertising, sales promotion, public relations and direct selling. Amanah Saham Nasional Berhad (ASNB) was subsequently established as a wholly- owned subsidiary of Permodalan Nasional Berhad. The primary objective of ASNB is to mobilize the savings of the individual Bumiputras through the marketing and selling of the proposed national unit trust to the Bumiputra individuals. In addition Amanah Saham National Berhad is also responsible for educating the Bumiputras on the benefits of investing.