EPF Declares 5.35% Dividend 2022

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has declared a dividend rate of 5.35% for Conventional Savings for 2022, with a total payout amounting to RM45.44bil as well as a 4.75% for Syariah Savings, with a payout amounting to RM5.7bil. In total, the retirement fund’s payout for 2022 amounts to RM51.14bil.

Last year, EPF declared dividends of 6.1% for conventional savings (for the year 2021) and 5.65% for syariah savings. Over the past 10 years, EPF's dividend payout for conventional savings has 5.8% in 2010 followed by 6% (2011), 6.15% (2012), 6.35% (2013), 6.75% (2014), 6.4% (2015), 5.7% (2016), 6.9% (2017), 6.15% (2018), 5.45% (2019) and 5.2% (2020).

For syariah savings, it recorded dividends of 6.4% in 2017, 5.9% (2018), 5% (2019) and 4.9% (2020).

Driven by high market volatility and lower valuations across equity and fixed income markets, the EPF recorded a lower total gross investment income of RM55.33bil as of Dec 31,2022 compared to RM68.89bil in 2021.

From the gross investment income of RM55.33 bil, RM6.83bil were allocated to Simpanan Shariah. A total of 74% of the total amount came from Shariah-compliant counters that underperformed, which in turn impacted the EPF’s Simpanan Shariah performance for the year.

Mass Withdrawal - EPF claimed that the assets under management (AUM) remained stable despite the withdrawals coming up to RM145 bil. EPF’s investment assets remain intact and closed at RM1.003 trillion in December 2022, which is a slight reduction of 0.7% from the RM1.01 trillion in 2021.

By broad asset class, Fixed Income instruments made up 47% of investment assets, while Equities comprised 42%. Real Estate and Infrastructure as well as Money Market instruments made up 7% and 4% of EPF assets, respectively.

As for its asset class, equities contributed RM30.54bil, or 55% of the EPF’s total gross income, lower compared to the RM41.06bil recorded in 2021.

Foreign listed equities, which yielded a return on investment (ROI) of 9.27%, continued to be the driver of returns for this asset class. As of Dec 2022, foreign investment made up about 36% of the EPF’s investment assets and contributed 45% of the EPF’s total gross investment income.

The private equity portfolio also demonstrated strong performance, recording an ROI of 13.65%. This portfolio generated lower gross investment income compared to 2021, largely due to lower valuations of the underlying assets, apart from lower distributions received for the year.

Malaysia - Phone Screen Protector - RM2,099

A student was left reeling after being asked to pay RM2,099 for "insurance" after buying a RM25 screen protector. The 23-year-old biomedical science student, said she was walking around a a mall near Petaling Street when a promoter offered her a screen protector and mobile phone cover for just RM25.

She added that the promoter told her that he needed to register her for insurance to cover any damage to the screen protector and asked for her MyKad. When she was about to pay, the cashier told her that the total was RM2,124, which was RM25 for the phone cover and screen protector and RM2,099 for the insurance.

She asked for clarification and was told that the 'insurance' could not be cancelled after it was registered. She did not have that much cash on her and the promoter appeared and "helped" her negotiate the cash price down to RM1,575.

She said the shop owner had refunded her RM1,575 after the police intervened. She added that the shop owner had thrown in the screen protector and phone cover for free.

Many have since told me that they or their friends had faced similar situations but had never reported it. Many suspected the shopkeeper and so-called ‘insurance’ company are same people; these people target students and those who are new to the city.

Insurance Scam - Malaysia

A woman lost RM224,600 after falling victim to a scammer posing as an insurance agent who claimed that her husband had submitted some false claims. The 58-year-old victim was with her husband when he received a call from the scammer, who claimed to be an insurance agent, at 8.30am on Feb 14.

When the call was received by her 61-year-old husband, both victims were at home in Kampung Pulau Durian Tunggal and the woman then spoke to the suspect, and denied that her husband had submitted a false insurance claim.

Despite the denial, the call was transferred to a person who claimed he was a police officer, who urged the victim to lodge a report but was then told that her husband was involved in illegal money laundering and that an arrest warrant had been issued. 

The woman then denied the money laundering claims but the fake police officer continued to badger her and asked her to provide their bank account information and savings balance. On Feb 22, the woman was asked by the scammers to transfer all their money to her Bank Islam account for the purpose of the investigation but yesterday, she realized that the RM224,600 in her account had been transferred to a third-party account without her knowledge.