Between 2020 and 2022, around USD$33 billion was withdrawn from Malaysia’s pension fund, the Employee Provident Fund (EPF), to help mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, about half of EPF contributors under the age of 55 have less than MYR10,000 in their accounts. And according to EPF officials, only 4 per cent of Malaysians can afford to retire.
As soaring inflation and the weak ringgit drive up cost of living, the opposition has piled pressure on the government to allow for another round of EPF withdrawals. But Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has resisted further drawdowns. Can Malaysians afford to retire? What plans does the government have to replenish the pension fund? Is Malaysia facing a retirement timebomb?
Over 20% of Korea's population is located in Seoul. Many people are coming to Seoul for the Seoul Dream, like the American Dream in 1960's. But the costs of living are so high to settle in Seoul.
Twenty two year-old hacker Jimmy Zhong said he never meant to become a criminal billionaire. But that’s what happened in 2012 after he found a way to steal bitcoin from the Silk Road – a dark web exchange then known for some of the most unsavory trade on the internet – drugs, guns and porn. Over the next decade, the coins Zhong stole rocketed in value, ultimately reaching an eye-watering $3.36 billion.
Photos show Zhong on yachts, in front of airplanes, and at big time football games over the decade he confounded law enforcement officers trying to solve the theft. He even bought a weekend lake house to use as a party pad, and decorated it with a giant Trump flag and a stripper pole. But then, Zhong made a phone call that ruined his life.
In this documentary, CNBC’s Eamon Javers speaks exclusively with the IRS-CI, the agency that investigated this billion dollar crime as well as the people who knew Zhong during the decade he evaded law enforcement. Javers’ reporting also uncovers a long, digital trail that leads back to the earliest days of bitcoin and reveals a dark truth about the world of hackers and coders responsible for the creation of bitcoin.
Young investors looking to kick off their investment journey have many options to choose from on the Singapore stock market. So what do they need to start buying stocks and other securities? And why is having an account with the Central Depository a good starting point?
After investigating how malware scams affect victims, host Steven Chia heads to Vietnam to find out who is behind these scams and how easy it is to create malware. He meets a notorious ex-hacker who digs further into an app embedded with malware that was making its rounds in Singapore. He also finds out how sophisticated scams are going to get, and what we can do to protect ourselves.