THE EMPLOYEES Provident Fund (EPF) remains the largest investor in the domestic market as its assets under management (AUM) rose to RM702.48 billion as at December 2023 from RM643.38 billion in 2022.
The retirement savings fund said deployment into the domestic market accounted for more than 80 per cent of its investment allocation for 2023, providing capital to Malaysian companies and the economy as a whole.
“As at December 2023, the EPF holds about 28 per cent of the outstanding Malaysian Government Securities (MGS) and Government Investment Issues (GII) issuances, and about 12 per cent of the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Top 100 Index market capitalisation,” it said in a statement today.
“This includes trading by domestic external fund managers, which for the past five years have received over RM4 billion allocation for domestic equity portfolios,” it said.
In addition, the EPF said its allocation of over RM3 billion to external fixed-income managers brought the total allocation to Malaysian fund managers to over RM7 billion.
“These allocations are part of the EPF’s long-term diversification effort as well as to spur the domestic capital market and asset management industry,” it said.
Meanwhile, new member registrations stood at 460,447, bringing its total number of members to 16.07 million as of December 2023.
“Of the total, 8.52 million were active members, which now represent 50 per cent of Malaysia’s 17.03 million labour force as at end-2023.
“The active member base remained constant at 53 per cent versus 47 per cent of active-to inactive member ratio as at December 2023,” it said.
On i-Saraan participants, EPF said it recorded a substantial increase of 31 per cent to 382,983 in 2023 from 291,743 in 2022.
“Overall, total contributions collected in 2023 increased to RM97.56 billion, an improvement of 15 per cent from 2022, reflecting improvements in members’ financial capacity resulting from the progressive recovery of incomes, employment, and the economy.
“It also highlights the continuous trust in the EPF in safeguarding members’ savings,” it said, adding that new employer registrations were recorded at 82,005 as at end of 2023, bringing the total number of employers registered with the EPF to 606,187. – Bernama, March 3, 2024
