PUCHONG (Oct 3): Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) will have a relook at its STRIVE-15 Strategic Plan 2017-2022 on whether there is a need to tweak it forward, given the current landscape of weak investment returns environment globally and geopolitical issues.

"PNB had previously set a mid-term period for the STRIVE-15 period for reviews, and currently we are doing a mid-term review on it and we'll see what have been agreed (upon) and what have been achieved.

"Basically, STRIVE-15 would be consistent with what we said we were going to do three years ago," PNB newly-appointed president and group chief executive officer Jalil Rasheed told reporters after the final round of the PNB Investment Quiz and prize giving ceremony, here today.

PNB STRIVE-15 comprises three pillars, namely enhancing sustainable returns, effective investment management and driving operational excellence.

Asked whether PNB will continue to invest in the equity markets of several advanced and emerging markets, Jalil said:

"That's actually very critical for us... PNB's asset under management value today stood at RM300 billion and Malaysia’s market is just not large and deep enough.

"We have various roles in Malaysia which include investing in local companies, as well as playing a huge role developing the ecosystem, but we need to start looking outside. We have already started investing overseas and that will continue.”

He said PNB would need to diversify its investments, perhaps a lot in single-asset class and in Malaysia.

"We need to re-think how (that allocation) is done and what geography that make sense for us to invest in.

"On the six global fund managers, we haven't appointed anybody, but we do work with some global asset managers on certain asset class," he added.