The novel coronavirus outbreak, now known as the Covid-19 outbreak, has dominated headlines for most part of this year.

 

The virus outbreak, which appears to have begun in Wuhan, China, has now infected more than 125,000 people from 117 countries and caused over 4,600 deaths. On March 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Covid-19 outbreak a global pandemic — a term that has been applied to only a few diseases, such as the deadly flu in 1918, and the H1N1 flu in 2009.

The growing concern on Covid-19’s impact to global economy has impacted major stock markets, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffering one of its worst weeks since 1987. Major central banks are also slashing interest rates, as well as coming up with stimulus packages, to cushion the impact of the outbreak.

The Covid-19 outbreak has also induced a rush to safe haven instruments such as the US Dollar, Japanese Yen and the Swiss Francs. However, the 50-basis point cut by US Federal Reserve in March has taken the wind out of the greenback and provided some positive impact in some emerging market currencies.

Nevertheless, investment opportunities may arise at times of uncertainties. This is when owning a RHB Multi-Currency Account* and the Multi-Currency Account Debit Card allows you to capture the opportunities.

More than meets the eye

The RHB Multi-Currency Account Debit Card is extremely useful when travelling overseas, as it helps you to save a significant sum on foreign exchange fees.

However, the RHB Multi-Currency Account Debit Card does more than that. It also allows you to enjoy gains at any economic cycle.

Below are some of the ways you can benefit from the RHB Multi-Currency Account Debit Card:

The RHB Multi-Currency Account Debit Card allows you to hedge the Malaysian Ringgit with other currencies. This feature is extremely useful at a time of market uncertainties, when global investors flock to safe haven assets like the US Dollar, Japanese Yen and Swiss Francs.

The rising concerns of the economic impact of the virus outbreak as well as plunging crude oil prices has resulted in a weak performance of the Malaysian Ringgit.

Between February 15 and March 15, the Malaysian Ringgit has depreciated by 4.3% versus the US dollar, 5% against Japanese Yen, and 9% against Swiss Francs.

Hedging the ringgit can also allow you to benefit for the long-term. For example: those who have increased their exposure into Thai baht over the past two years would have enjoyed foreign exchange gains of over 16%.

Ask any successful investor, and they will tell that the key to success is to diversify. Same applies to currencies. Having a wide range of currencies under your RHB Multi-Currency Account Debit Card would help protect the overall value of the card — as one currency’s decline usually results in strengthening of other currencies.

With increasing uncertainties ahead, it’s hard to forecast the market movement, hence, diversifying the currency portfolio could offer more stability to the investors as it minimises the risks, and may improve your returns in the long-term if you have the right pool currency portfolio.

Furthermore, preserving cash value during economic uncertainties can be an effective strategy. For example: it allows you to capitalise on opportunities by acquiring oversold, fundamentally strong stocks during a bear market.

The Australian Dollar continues to depreciate against the ringgit in 2020. Between January 1 and March 15, it has depreciated by 6.3% to 2.64, the lowest level in the five-year period.

As the International Monetary Fund expects the Australia’s economy has reached a “gentle turning point” and Australian GDP growth set to hit 2.3% this year (versus 2.2% in 2019).

The recent slowdown opened up an investment opportunity to the investors to accumulate the currency in lower rate and wait for the value to increase when the country’s economy improves.

The investment is not only limited to Aussie Dollar, RHB Multi Currency Account offers up to 13 foreign currencies, including the US dollar, Pound Sterling, Japanese Yen, Singapore Dollar and Euro.

RHB Group offers a wide range of services to its valued customers. By “pairing” your Multi-Currency Account with RHB’s stock broking services RHB TradeSmart, you would be able to invest in securities from the top five global exchanges: The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Nasdaq composite, Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx) and Singapore Exchange (SGX).

Besides investment opportunities, the RHB Multi-Currency Account Debit Card also allows you save a lot from the unnecessary foreign exchange fees and enjoy instant currency conversion through online banking.

The US economy is likely to grow at a slower pace this year — the IMF expects the US economy to grow by 2% in 2020, slightly lower than the 2.3% growth in 2019.

Meanwhile, the IMF expects Europe to grow at about 2.5% in 2020. There are also expectations that emerging market economies will register higher growth this year.

Although the Covid-19 outbreak and plunging oil prices have caused investors to move to safe haven assets such as the US Dollar, Swiss Franc and Japanese Yen. As the infection cases in China have reduced rapidly for the past few weeks, the rate of work resumption at the factories has inched up.

The rebound of China can spur the regional growth, the emerging economies will also enjoy the spillover effect.

Should this trend remain on track - and not deterred by other external factors - 2020 could be the year when emerging market currencies and euros depreciating against the greenback.


Wait, there’s more!

Besides investment opportunities, the RHB Multi-
Currency Account Debit Card also allows you save a lot
from the unnecessary foreign exchange fees even
when you are not travelling.

Education fees:
On average, studying abroad can cost about
US$12,000 (RM49,668) a semester or US$36,000
(RM149,004). This is equivalent to about RM12,400 a
month.

Depending on the service provider, and the amount
you decided to send to your child overseas, foreign
exchange fees can go as high as 3% per transaction.

Hence, having the RHB Multi-Currency Account Debit
Card is important, it not only offers you a very
competitive rate, but it also eliminates transfer fees. In
the instance above, the money saved from the foreign
exchange fees can be used to buy a new laptop for your
child.

Besides, RHB also offers a great rate for Multi-
Currency Account Debit Card holders when you
convert your preferred currencies through online
banking. 
You are hired!
In today’s globalized economy, it is becoming increasingly common for Malaysians to be employed by overseas-based companies.

Having the RHB Multi-Currency Account Debit Card allows your employers to send you your salary in their local currency, and with the competitive forex rate you are getting with RHB, you will be able to get more bang for your bucks.

In view of the volatile economy condition, the exchange rate with RHB Multi-Currency Account is locked in to protect account holders’ money from foreign currency fluctuations.

*RHB Multi Currency Account, Current Account and Savings Account are protected by PIDM up to RM250,000 for each depositor. MCA Gold Investment and MCA Silver Investment are not protected by PIDM

RHB Bank Berhad is a Member of PIDM.




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