Dear All,

Since the Klse.my website was shut down on 28-Jun-2016, we have received many inquiries and notes of support. First of all, we just like to express our sincere thanks to everyone for showing your support. Secondly, we would like to apologise as we have limitation to reply to everyone in view of the huge number of the incoming emails. We have spent time reading through ALL the emails, and below is a summary of the questions that we received and our responses to them.

[1] Why did klse.my shut down?

As per our previous announcement, Klse.my was instructed by Bursa Malaysia (Information Services team) that it cannot publish Malaysia's stock market info at the Klse.my portal without paying a license fee to Bursa Malaysia, regardless where the portal obtains its data.

The license fee is not a small amount for a free investment website like Klse.my. We have been sponsoring the server hosting fees in the past, but the license fees requested by Bursa is just too much. In view of this, we have no choice but to shut down the Klse.my website.

[2] What is klse.my bank account number? Does klse.my accept public contributions?

We appreciate the suggestions and support from some who suggested to collect public contributions to keep the website online, much like a crowd sourcing portal. But, the license fee is not cheap and we are not sure if public contributions will help in the long term. Also, if the public contributions are not sufficient to keep the website online, then our plan is to return the fund back to the contributors.

Please send us an email to admin@klse.my if you are willing to contribute and state the amount of intended contribution. If the number of responses and amount is sufficient, we will consider adopting this crowdsourcing method to bring up the klse.my portal again and keep it going for another year. We can review this on yearly basis.

[3] Will klse.my consider to become a paid website?

Since day one of the operation, Klse.my aims to deliver free and reliable information on the local equity market investors at no cost. We aim to level the playing field and let every investors have quick and easy access to important company data. The lack of information certainly won't help the retail investors and we do not intend to be another paid website which is against our initial objectives.

[4] Does klse.my think Bursa have the right to demand license fee for the stock price data and company announcements?

Klse.my appreciate your input on this. We agree with you the stock prices are driven by public supply and demand, and the company announcements are prepared and submitted by the listed companies themselves. But, it is certainly not up to us to deem whether Bursa has the rights to collect license fees for other websites that publish those data.

However, our view remains that in today’s world, keeping market data propriety certainly does not benefit the investors and Fintech sector in Malaysia as a whole. Fintech companies can only flourish and continue to innovate if it receives support from local market participants and agencies. The market size of Malaysia’s stock investment sector is already not that large to begin with. Any additional barrier imposed will only discourage the Fintech companies in this country to continue to develop useful and innovative products for the retail investors to support their investment decisions.

[5] Why did Klse.my not request Bursa or other agency to waive/sponsor the license fees?

Klse.my did explained to Bursa and requested for a fee waiver before we decided to shut down the website. But, the decision that came back was not in our favour. We would urge Bursa to reconsider the decision and we are happy keep the portal free for general investors if Bursa agrees to waive the license fees for the klse.my portal. 

If there are other agencies that would like to sponsor the license fees, we are happy to discuss the collaboration details too.

[6] What are the other plans for Klse.my if the above don’t work out?

We may consider selling the site, or re-developing the website to cover the stock market in another country that has a more open policy on market data and more friendly to a stock investment portal / Fintech company in general.

Last but not least, we’d like to thank everyone who has supported us. Happy Investing!

http://www.klse.my/response.html