Amanah Saham Malaysia 3 recently opened up for a fresh unit release on July 16, 2026.

PNB has caught on to viral sales tactics, and opened it up at 2:00 AM on Thursday, July 16.

So while watching the FIFA World Cup semifinal match between Argentina and England, Malaysians logged into their myASNB app and bought the units.

The fund was sold out by 9:00 AM.

On that day, both PNB and Argentina had won the day.

The thing is, if you look at the historical performance of ASM 3 for the past five years: 2025 - 4.75 sen 2024 - 4.75 sen 2023 - 4.50 sen 2022 - 3.75 sen 2021 - 4.00 sen

It is a decent return, but nothing to write home about.

And the thing is, ASM 3 is just a unit trust fund, albeit a unit trust fund with a fixed price.

If you buy it at RM1.00, you can sell it back at RM1.00.

That is the certainty that everyone is paying for.

But that certainty has a steep price.

ASM 3 actually holds the following banks in its portfolio: Maybank - 63.0 sen — 5.63% CIMB Group - 47.10 sen — 5.89% RHB Bank - 50.0 sen — 5.90% Public Bank - 22.5 sen — 4.29%

Like any unit trust, there are other companies in the portfolio that have been underperforming, and the banks are doing the heavy lifting to pay the dividends for ASM 3.

You can definitely get better returns by buying the banks directly.

The only thing lost compared to buying ASM 3 is the certainty.

But here is the thing: price is what you pay, value is what you get.

Malaysian banks’ assets consist mostly of mortgages, so they are unlikely to lose value abruptly unless something drastic happens.

At the moment, some banks are selling below their book value.

So the stock price could be fluctuating every day, because the stock market is not rational in the short term.

Over time though, value will win because the banks will make more money and, in return, pay more dividends.

So you are paying at least 1% for the certainty ASM 3 offers.

And the fluctuation in the banks’ stock prices is actually ephemeral. If you check the stock price only once a year, like how you will check your ASM 3 holdings, then you won’t notice the difference.

And for holding bank stocks, you get to be paid twice a year, which is one time more than holding ASM 3.