Thursday, June 28, 2012

Watch out for termites if you save your money at home


The news that a Taiwanese undergraduate loss all her life savings of RM106,000 to termites seem incongruous at first as most of us keep our savings in the bank. In this case, she did not trust banks. I'm glad that I have not read any similar incident in Malaysia.

The fact that we have not had anyone losing their money in such a way is proof of how much we trust our banks. Some might say there may be people who do keep their money outside the banking system and as far as we know they have not lost that money to insects or other natural calamities. That is food for thought.

In Malaysia we are assured of the safety of our deposits through the auspices of the deposit insurance system administered by Perbadanan Insurans Deposit Malaysia (PIDM). Aren't we glad that we can sleep peacefully knowing that our savings would not disappear overnight even if a member bank fails.

This insurance does not give carte blanche to the banks to do business recklessly. As a business entity we are certain that commercial banks would prefer to see continued growth rather than sudden dramatic spurts which ends with a big flop.

We are however uncertain of the human factor. Those in management might prefer the spurt and flop scenario in order to line their own pockets. It is tempting to make the hay while the sun shines. We are fortunate that our central bank is always vigilant and banks that show anomalies will be investigated and remedial action can be taken.

We have to emphasise to those who doubt the credibility, trustworthiness and strength of our banking system that what we have in place is well-managed and has the full support of the government and people. Our deposits are tiny compared to savings worldwide but account holders need not have any doubts that their money is in safe hands.

We do not need to stash our savings in our own house.

Image from dreamstime

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