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.

Scam Center Operating In Malaysia

Ten people including five British and two Philippine nationals have been arrested by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in connection with an investment scam syndicate which had cheated its victims of about A$60 million (about RM200 million).

The sources said they were arrested in the ‘Op Tropicana’ operation yesterday when the MACC’s Anti-Money Laundering Division raided 24 locations in Kuala Lumpur and Penang. The scammers’ victims were said to be Australians and British nationals who had been deceived into making investments in non-existent schemes.

The syndicate, led by its British masterminds, was said to have been operating since 2019 and was also involved in money-laundering activities and corruption. The raided premises included three boiler rooms, two in Kuala Lumpur and one in Penang. The modus operandi of the syndicate was to look for victims through social media and telephone calls. The syndicate is also suspected to have bribed certain authorities to protect its members and facilitate the operation of its boiler rooms in the country.

The suspects, aged between 39 and 59, had been remanded for six days. The suspects, handcuffed and dressed in MACC’s orange lock-up attire, were taken to the Putrajaya Magistrate’s Court at 2.23pm under escort by the Immigration Department’s Special Tactical Team (Pastak).

FWD Bought Gibraltar BSN Life

Hong Kong-based FWD Group Holdings Ltd says it will enter the Malaysian life insurance market following the signing of an agreement to invest in a majority stake in Gibraltar BSN Life Bhd. The transaction was expected to close in the second quarter of this year. 

FWD said the group and other investors would together hold an effective 70 per cent stake in Gibraltar BSN. The stake was sold by The Prudential Insurance Company of America, a wholly-owned subsidiary of US-based NYSE-listed Prudential Financial Inc. Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) will continue to hold the remaining 30 per cent stake in Gibraltar BSN.

FWD entered the Malaysian market in March 2019 as a provider of family takaful products including term life, critical illness, cancer, hospital cash benefit and medical protection.

Pay Peanuts - Get Monkey

The lack of meritocracy in the workplace is among the top three reasons why Malaysians are choosing to migrate and work abroad, says a deputy minister, Mustapha Sakmud. This is part of the “social injustice” in the workplace, with professionals apparently frustrated by the need to use connections for career progression.

Better career prospects and remuneration were the other two reasons why Malaysians were seeking to work abroad. Developed countries have better laws that protect their workers’ rights from any discrimination, and also provide better salaries.

They are based on meritocracy, unlike in our ecosystem, which is sometimes based on connections or who you know. Low wages in Malaysia were driving people to migrate, pointing out that an engineer’s salary had not increased by much in the past 30 years. ”

He said Singapore had the highest number of Malaysian workers with nearly one million, followed by Australia, the US, the UK and Canada. Most of them were professionals in sectors like oil and gas, power, financial services and sales.

Data showed that many of those who migrated had trouble finding work in Malaysia. While the trend of Malaysians moving abroad was in decline. The number of Malaysians returning home was “almost non-existent".

Scam Updates Malaysia

A religious teacher lost RM76,170 after being duped by a Macau Scam on Feb 20. A 55-year-old woman received a call from an individual who claimed to be a Touch ‘n Go officer in Kuala Lumpur and accused the victim of having six-month bill arrears.

The victim denied having the payment arrear and the call was later passed to an individual masquerading as a police officer who told she was also involved in drug trafficking and money laundering. The victim then appealed for the warrant to be postponed and revealed her 14-digit account number of all bank cards apart from being ordered to fill in banking information in a link provided.

After filling in the bank information, the woman found five cash withdrawals from the accounts which resulted in losses amounting to RM76,170,” he said in a statement today.

Job- Offer - In another case, a tour agent found more than RM52,443 disappeared after being duped in a fake part-time job offer via WhatsApp which promises a return of RM100 for every assignment carried out last Saturday.

A 34-year-old victim expressed interest, the suspect sent a link to the man to join a Telegram group and was asked to purchase prepaid with the promise of a quick return. The victim then made five cash transactions into different bank accounts before being informed of a profit of 40% and made four more transactions as instructed by the suspect resulting in a loss of RM52,443.

The two victims felt duped then filed police reports at the Temerloh and Jerantut district police headquarters yesterday and the cases were investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.

Meanwhile, Police advises the public not to rent or give personal bank accounts to strangers or friends, as the account owner can be accused in court or may face civil lawsuits.