1.5 Million EPF-i Members Expected

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) expects about 1.5 million of its members to convert to its first fully syariah-compliant fund (EPF-i) after the fund’s implementation in January 2017.

“It is just another option for the members to decide whether to go for the syariah fund or stick to the present conventional fund,” said EPF chief executive officer Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan.

“But based on the study that we have conducted and feedback that we get from the public, so far about 1.5 million members would migrate to the EPF-i in the initial year,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the 12th Invest Malaysia Kuala Lumpur (IMKL 2016) in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.

EPF had planned to launch the EPF-i fund in January 2017 with an initial fund size of between RM80bil and RM100bil.

As of September 2015, EPF had 14.45 million members, with active and contributing members numbering 6.74 million.

As at Dec 31, 2015, about 40% of EPF’s total investments were syariah-compliant investments.

Meanwhile, during the closing plenary session titled Navigating The New Normal at the same event, Shahril said EPF embraced the new normal in the industry by increasing the company’s management transparency.

We have provided a lot of data compared to a few years ago. In fact, we are among a few funds in the country that announce a quarterly report,” he said, adding that governance transparency was part of efforts to fulfil members’ expectations.

Free trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, would provide more open competition to participating countries. It would help restructure the competitive landscape, and have a positive impact for the long term.