Purpose: Personal bankruptcy is on the rise in Malaysia. The Insolvency Department of Malaysia reported that personal bankruptcy has increased since 2007, and the total accumulated personal bankruptcy cases stood at 131,282 in 2014. This is indeed an alarming issue because the increasing number of personal bankruptcy cases will have a negative impact on the Malaysian economy, as well as on the society. From the aspect of individual’s personal economy, bankruptcy minimizes their chances of securing a job. Apart from that, their account will be frozen, lost control on their assets and properties and not allowed to start any business nor be a part of any company’s management. Bankrupts also will be denied from any loan application, restricted from travelling overseas and cannot act as a guarantor. This paper aims to investigate this problem by developing the personal bankruptcy prediction model using the decision tree technique. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, bankrupt is defined as terminated members who failed to settle their loans. The sample comprised of 24,546 cases with 17 per cent settled cases and 83 per cent terminated cases. The data included a dependent variable, i.e. bankruptcy status (Y = 1(bankrupt), Y = 0 (non-bankrupt)) and 12 predictors. SAS Enterprise Miner 14.1 software was used to develop the decision tree model. Findings: Upon completion, this study succeeds to come out with the profiles of bankrupts, reliable personal bankruptcy scoring model and significant variables of personal bankruptcy. Practical implications: This decision tree model is possible for patent and income generation. Financial institutions are able to use this model for potential borrowers to predict their tendency toward personal bankruptcy. Social implications: Create awareness to society on significant variables of personal bankruptcy so that they can avoid being a bankrupt. Originality/value: This decision tree model is able to facilitate and assist financial institutions in evaluating and assessing their potential borrower. It helps to identify potential defaulting borrowers. It also can assist financial institutions in implementing the right strategies to avoid defaulting borrowers.

The implementation of National Strategies indicated that financial literacy and education is an important life skill that every people should have. The Theory of planned behavior is the best way to explain the actual human behavior. In our current study, we examined the determinants of financial behavior among Malaysian workers. Human resource is considered as an important source for economic development. Having a high self-efficacy can help them to achieve a positive financial behavior and cope with any challenges especially in term of financial matters. However, in Malaysia, there is no study on financial self-efficacy using the Financial Self-Efficacy Scale (FSES). Cronbach alpha were tested and all the variables achieved a high reliability of more than 0.70. Regression were tested and the result shows that only financial knowledge were significant to financial behavior. The result intends to add to the body of knowledge.

This study investigates the determinants of saving behavior among government servants. The study focused on financial knowledge, financial self-efficacy, financial attitude and financial management practice in relation of saving behavior. The respondents were government servants in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Convenience sampling was used for this study. 150 questionnaires were distributed to 150 respondents to answer the questionnaires. The questionnaire was designed in two sections, one consisting of demographic information and the second relating to the selection determinants of saving behavior. Result indicates that financial self-efficacy becomes an important factor that influences the saving behavior. Financial self- efficacy is the best predictor as most of government servants are managed to make progress towards financial goals. These findings could be useful references for related organizations as well as body of knowledge and practical implication that are interested in developing personal saving in a context of avoiding from bankruptcy. Keywords: Saving Behavior, Financial Knowledge, Financial Attitude, Financial Self- Efficacy, Financial Management Practice

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to measure the antecedents of students' attitude and the impact of students' attitude on the intention to repay study loans. Design/methodology/approach – Primary data from 428 students in universities in Malaysia are collected and six constructs from theory are identified: perceptions that loan repayment will affect the quality of life after graduation; awareness of loan repayment issues created by media; perceptions towards loan agreement; parental influence; students' attitude towards loan repayment; and intention to repay loan. Structural equation modelling approach is adopted to analyze the data. Findings – Constructs of parental influence and perceptions that loan repayment will affect the quality of life after graduation are found to have a direct relationship with students' attitude towards loan repayment; perceptions towards loan agreement is found to influence belief that loan repayment will affect the quality of life after graduation; and awareness of loan repayment issues created by media is found to affect parental influence. The relationship between students' attitude and intention is found to be statistically positive and significant. Research limitations/implications – The study has been conducted in aggregate form. Future studies could account for ethnic, gender, and regional differences. Practical implications – The primary users of the results of this study would be the countries that provide education loans, and keen to cut down on student loan defaults. Originality/value – The study is first of its kind to approach the issue of student loan defaults in a multi-method manner and develop a comprehensive theoretical model that can be put to empirical test by future researchers.

Asian household debts continuously rise in recent years, including in Malaysia. This scenario might lead to a number of challenges in achieving the nation’s dream to have a high-income status. The lack of financial management and financial skills is the main reasons of debt problem. As both financial management and financial skills are parts of financial literacy, this study was conducted to investigate the level of understanding of financial literacy and the debt burden among Malay youth workers in Malaysia. Further, it adopts a qualitative methodology that involved semi-structured interviews. The findings show that Malay youth workers have a limited knowledge about shares (stocks). In addition, home loan is a major contributor for the debt burden among the youth workers.