PERMODALAN Nasional Bhd (PNB) has declared a total income distribution of 5.75 sen per unit for Amanah Saham Bumiputera for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2025, delivering the largest annual payout since the fund was launched.
The distribution consists of a dividend of 5.20 sen and a bonus of 0.55 sen per unit, to be paid through PNB’s wholly owned unit trust manager, Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd.
The payout totals RM10.4 billion and will benefit 11.4 million ASB unitholders, according to a statement issued on Friday.
PNB group chairman Tan Sri Arshad Raja Tun Uda said the outcome highlighted the fund’s resilience despite a challenging investment environment.
“We are pleased to sustain ASB's dividend distribution of 5.75 sen, with RM10.4 billion payout being the highest quantum of annual distribution paid since ASB’s inception. This brings ASB’s cumulative income distribution to RM206.7 billion, reflecting the resilience and strength of ASB’s investment portfolio.”
He said PNB was also responding to broader concerns about household savings in Malaysia. “We are aware of the broader challenge of insufficient savings and the need to cultivate stronger savings habits among Malaysians.
“To address this, we plan to amplify our financial literacy efforts, guided by our purpose, to uplift the financial lives of Malaysians across generations.”
The 2025 distribution matches the previous year’s payout and remains significantly above the average 12-month fixed deposit rate of 2.29% offered by Malayan Banking Bhd.
This was achieved despite a muted domestic equity market, with the FBM KLCI recording a slight price decline of 0.3% during the year.
PNB said market sentiment was dampened by persistent foreign fund outflows, even as Malaysia’s economic fundamentals remained positive.
Gross domestic product growth for 2025 is projected at between 4.0% and 4.8%, supported by strong investment inflows and a firmer ringgit, which strengthened 8.7% to RM4.09 against the US dollar.
Across its full range of funds, ASNB distributed RM15.3 billion in dividends in 2025, the highest annual total on record, lifting cumulative distributions since inception to RM279 billion.
The performance reflects consistent returns across ASNB’s 18 unit trust funds, including fixed-price offerings such as ASB and Amanah Saham Malaysia, alongside variable-price funds under the ASN Equity, ASN Imbang and ASN Sara portfolios.
PNB said distribution rates for fixed-price funds improved year on year and continued to maintain healthy spreads over deposit benchmarks, while variable-price funds outperformed their respective benchmarks.
Four of these funds ranked in the top quartile of their segments based on rolling three-year total returns.
“This resilient performance was driven by an increasingly diversified investment portfolio, supported by prudent asset allocation, disciplined investment strategies and proactive risk management,” the statement said.
PNB president and group chief executive Datuk Abdul Rahman Ahmad said the group had made solid progress under its LEAP-6 Strategic Plan.
“As we enter the second year of implementing PNB’s LEAP-6 Strategic Plan, we have performed well across key priorities of growing customer net inflows, delivering sustainable income distribution to unitholders, and strengthening PNB’s proprietary capital, resulting in a 4.5% increase in assets under management to RM364 billion. We had made good progress in the past year and are on track towards our target of achieving RM400 billion in AUM by 2027.”
ASNB said its number of unique account holders remained stable at 13 million, supported by the addition of 560,000 new accounts during the year, underscoring continued public confidence in PNB-managed funds. - December 19, 2025
