A TOTAL of RM219,240 has been raised for breast cancer thanks to Bursa Malaysia's participation in a breast cancer awareness campaign in Oct.
Bursa Malaysia pledged RM10 for every CDS account opened by female investors. The money will be channeled to the National Cancer Society of Malaysia (NCSM) to support its 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 in 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 per cent of investors in the capital market," says Bursa Malaysia chief executive officer, Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift.
NCSM president, Datuk Dr Saunthari Somasundaram says NCSM is extremely grateful to be able to partner with Bursa Malaysia and its brokers. Support like this from organisations will enable NCSM to go out into communities throughout the country and help increase access for early detection and screening of cancer.