Public Bank’s participation in the UCSI-Public Bank National Essay Writing Competition 2019 unearthed talents in writing while promoting national unity.
 
When students around Malaysia heard of the writing competition organised by UCSI and the Bank, many students quickly googled or went to their local libraries for information that could help with their writing.
 
Among them was Master Kuan Kwok Yong from Hin Hua High School, who said: “This competition is a wonderful way to allow young students to express their thoughts for a better Malaysia. I believe that if we can truly view each other as our own, standing together in times of need, then we can definitely propel Malaysia towards a better future.”
 
Kuan was the first prize winner of the inaugural UCSI University-Public Bank National English Language Essay Competition 2019.
 
Receiving his prize from Dato’ Razak Dali, Public Bank’s Public Affairs Division Senior General Manager and UCSI University’s Vice-Chancellor and President Academician Senior Professor Dato’ Dr. Khalid Yusoff during the prize presentation ceremony at UCSI University Kuala Lumpur Campus on 24 September 2019, the 17-year old walked away with a tuition fee waiver worth RM10,000 to study at UCSI University, RM1,000 cash money, a trophy and a certificate for conspicuously articulating his ideas and ideals of what Malaysia should look like in the coming years.
 
Besides Kuan, 24 other secondary school students were present for the second, third, fourth, fifth and merit prizes with the top four winners receiving UCSI’s tuition fee waivers between RM3,000 and RM8,000, cash monies amounting from RM300 to RM800, trophies, and certificates. Twenty merit winners each received a MPH book voucher and a dictionary from Cambridge University Press.
 
Dato’ Dr. Khalid Yusoff, in his opening remark, said he was delighted with the initiative that was supported by Public Bank as the main sponsor and five co-sponsors namely Royal Selangor, MPH Bookstores, Khind Starfish Foundation, Cambridge University Press and Le Quadri Hotel.
 
“The National English Language Essay Competition is quintessentially the University’s way of inculcating the expression of love for a harmonious Malaysia among the younger generation,” he said.
 
Public Bank had contributed RM20,000 for the competition which was held in conjunction with the 62nd Merdeka Day and Malaysia Day celebrations with the aim to encourage students to reflect and write on the role of youth in nation building. The competition which began receiving entries from 1 May to the eve of National Day was opened to students sitting for the SPM, STPM, O-Level, A-Level and UEC examinations. The topic of this competition was “The Role of Youth in Creating a Peaceful and Harmonious Malaysia”.

Public Bank staff visited two orphanages on 24 and 25 October 2019 respectively, in conjunction with the Deepavali celebration on 27 October 2019.
 
Pn. Mirhani Cecilia Abdul Rahman Heinrich, Manager of Marketing Communications, Public Affairs Division, presented the Bank’s donations of RM12,000 and RM4,000 to Destiny Starting Point Welfare Association Klang and Persatuan Kebajikan Sri Saradha Devi Illam with 75 children and 30 children respectively.
 
In addition, the children received goodie bags and angpows for them to purchase new clothings.

Public Bank in collaboration with UCSI University co-organised the inaugural National English Essay Writing Competition for secondary school students.
 
The competition is held in conjunction with the 62nd Merdeka Day celebrations with the aim of encouraging students to reflect and write on the role of youth in nation building. It is a step in the right direction for students to articulate their ideas and ideals on how a nation should move forward.
 
As the Main Sponsor of the competition, Managing Director of Public Bank Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Tay Ah Lek presented the Bank’s contribution of RM20,000 to UCSI University’s Vice-Chancellor and President Academician Senior Professor Dato’ Dr. Khalid Yusoff at Menara Public Bank on 12 July 2019.

From providing scholarships to sponsoring various literary awards since the early years of the Bank’s formation, Public Bank has been active in Corporate Social Responsibility projects that are beneficial to Malaysians in various areas, notably in the education sector.
 
According to Tan Sri Tay, “We are happy to be part of this noble endeavour to encourage youths, who will be our future leaders, to put their thoughts in writing as writing can help improve imagination as well as enhance clarity of thought.”
 
Tan Sri Tay also believes that this initiative would promote the use of the English language as it is the common language of business that is used worldwide. “We believe this competition would also support the government’s call to improve the language proficiency among students,” he said.
 
And this was concurred with readily by Senior Professor Dato’ Dr. Khalid Yusoff who added, “This competition aims to inculcate the love for writing in English, encourage young people to take a keen interest in community and national affairs, reflect and write about them on a national platform.”
 
“Public Bank’s affirmative action to collaborate with UCSI University in this effort is laudable as it will definitely enhance the prestige and importance of promoting the use of English language amongst our youths. This would enhance our competitiveness in the long run which will benefit our country,” he said.
 
In explaining about the competition, UCSI’s Centre for Languages (CFL) Director, Ms. Margaret Soo said five winners will be selected and they will receive cash prizes of up to RM1,000, a trophy and UCSI University tuition fee waivers of up to RM10,000.
 
This UCSI University-Public Bank National English Language Essay Competition is open to students sitting for the SPM, STPM, O-Level, A-Level and UEC examinations. The topic of this year’s competition is “The Role of Youth in Creating a Peaceful and Harmonious Malaysia”.
 

Management Trainees of the Public Bank TalentMax programme visited Yayasan Chow Kit on 11 May 2019 as part of the Bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility initiative.

The participants managed to raise RM420 to purchase items such as stationery, food and drinks for the children. Besides fund raising, they also organised some activities including ‘Pass the Message’, ‘Build the Twin Towers’, ‘Spot the Differences’, and ‘Colouring Competition’. Through these activities too, the children learnt to respect each other’s ideas as well as thinking through an issue before doing anything. They also appreciate the importance of teamwork and resilience to complete a complex task.

The team looked forward to more activities like this.
 

In the spirit of Ramadhan, Public Bank organised two events for orphans to bring happiness and joy to the less fortunate. Two orphanages were selected to be recipient of the Bank’s annual festive charity program for 2019 and they are Persatuan Kebajikan An-Najjah Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur and Pusat Jagaan Rumah Kesayangan in Petaling Jaya.

Both orphanages have about 120 orphans aged from seven to 17 years old.

A continuation of the Bank’s corporate social responsibilities activities all year long, this is part of the bank’s commitment as a caring corporate citizen.

The Public Affairs Division (PAD) staff visited the orphanage Persatuan Kebajikan An-Najjah Malaysia on 15 May 2019 and ‘duit raya’ of RM180 was presented each to the orphans who were present, plus another RM5,000 outright donation for the orphanage to help them with their upkeep.

For orphans from the orphanage Pusat Jagaan Rumah Kesayangan, they were given the opportunity to go shopping for ‘baju raya’ at Mydin Hypermarket, Subang Jaya with the PAD staff on 16 May 2019. The orphanage was also given RM5,000 outright donation to help them with their upkeep.

Both events ended with the orphans breaking fast with PAD staff with everybody feeling happy and grateful for the eventful outings.

 

Public Bank hosted two educational visits from Sunway University and Xiamen University on 5 April 2019 and 23 April 2019 respectively. The students from various courses such as Accounting, Information Technology (IT), Psychology and Finance had attended the tour. The main purpose of the visit is to promote a better understanding for the students who are interested to pursue their careers in Communication, Banking and Finance sectors.

The students were amazed after finding out in the introduction provided by Pn. Mirhani Cecilia, Manager of Marketing Communications and Mr. Michael Pek, Deputy Manager of Corporate Communications that Public Bank is the most award winning company in Malaysia as certified by the Malaysian Book of Record with more than 450 awards over the past 52 years from many local and international organisations, publications and institutions.

The students were then give an insight into the career opportunities and work culture by Ms. Cheah Wee Nee, Assistant Manager from Human Capital Management, followed by Ms. Doreen Gan, Deputy Director of Retail and Financial Services who shed some light on the products and services provided by the Bank.

They were also given the opportunity to experience the life of a banker in various departments including the Dealing Room of Treasury Division, Red Carpet Banking (RBC) and KL City Main Office.

 

 

Public Bank sponsored Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) RM12,000 for the ‘FAM Investment Game 2018’ held on 19 November 2018 at UTAR Sungai Long Campus, Kajang, Selangor.

A total of 112 teams consisting of 300 students from the Faculty of Accountancy and Management (FAM) participated in the qualifying round on 16 November 2018 and only the top three teams with three members for each team made it to the final on 19 November 2018.

The main objective of the Investment Game was to educate the undergraduate students on stock market investment and inculcate greater awareness related to Finance and Invesment studies.

Public Bank set up booth to promote the Bank’s products and services and Mr. Leon Muhammad Faiz, Bancassurance Executive from Sungai Long Branch was the speaker who gave a talk to the students on the difference between saving and investing.

The champion team walked away with RM1,200 in the form of Private Retirement Scheme (PRS) plus power banks whilts first and second runners-up teams ended-up with RM1,000 and RM800 of PRS and power banks respectively.

Public Bank hosted a visit by delegates from the China Construction Bank Group (CCBG) on 23 November 2018. The visit was in conjunction with CCBG International Training Programme 2018 with the theme ‘Banking Innovation in Emerging Market’ which was organised by China Construction Bank (M) Bhd (CCBM) and was held for the first time in Malaysia.

The CCBG delegates were taken on a tour of Public Bank KL City Main Office Branch (KLC) and Red Carpet Banking (RCB) where the services of KLC and RCB were introduced to the delegates.

To kick off the briefing session, the Bank’s Corporate Video was shown to the delegates followed by Ms. Koay Seok Khim, Senior General Manager of Knowledge & Learning Centre briefed the delegates on the success story of Tan Sri Chairman and Public Bank. Then, Ms. Fam Yoke Fong, General Manager of the Information Technology Division provided a brief overview of the Bank's roadmap on IT.

Next, the Bank hosted a high tea session for the CCBG delegates which during the session, the Bank’s Senior Management staff had a networking session with the delegates to exchange ideas and views about the banking business in the International Markets. As a token of appreciation, Mr. Felix Feng Qi, CEO of CCBM presented a memento to Ms. Koay Seok Khim.

Earth Hour 2019 was observed on Saturday, 30 March 2019 with thousands of places around the world turning off their lights for an hour from 8:30 p.m. Menara Public Bank joined many other landmark buildings in Kuala Lumpur in turning off its non-essential lights as a symbol of the Bank’s commitment to the planet.

The Earth Hour is a global movement organised by the World Wildlife Fund. Born in Sydney, Australia in 2007 which aims to achieve an interconnected global community to share the opportunities and challenges of creating a sustainable future for all.

Giving back to the community has always been a ritual for the Public Bank Group. This festive season, the Public Affairs Division (PAD) visited two old folks’ homes, namely Pertubuhan Kebajikan Chester Selangor and Pusat Jagaan Rumah Love and Care Kajang. Both visitations took place on 13 March 2019 as part of the Bank’s Festive Charity Programme initiative.

Pertubuhan Kebajikan Chester Selangor was presented with a donation of RM18,000 while Pusat Jagaan Rumah Love and Care Kajang received RM8,000 respectively from Public Bank. All 80 residents from both homes also were given angpows containing RM100 each signifying prosperity and good health.

Dato’ Razak Dali, Senior General Manager of the Public Affairs Division (PAD) and Puan Norida Mohamed, Director of Public Affairs Division (PAD) presented the cheques and angpows to the elderly on behalf of the Bank.

Officers from the Public Affairs Division (PAD) were welcomed with warmth by both homes. Aside from donating food and necessary utilities, the officers also took turns in entertaining the elderly with a mini karaoke session. They might be older in age, but they are definitely young in their hearts!