EPF Chief Executive Officer Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan
KUALA LUMPUR: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) expects account holders of its soon-to-be-launched shariah account to receive similar dividend returns as conventional account counterparts.
Chief Executive Officer Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan said the fund was committed to deliver sustainable long-term returns with a minimum 2.5 per cent nominal dividend on an annual basis or two per cent above inflation rate.
"EPF is striving to achieve the current strategic objective for shariah savings even without the minimum guarantee of a nominal dividend annually," he said at the Global Islamic Finance Forum 5.0 here on Thursday.
The first fully shariah-compliant fund is scheduled to be launched in January 2017.
Last month, Shahril Ridza was reported to have said that there would not be any guarantee on the dividend returns for the shariah account, in line with shariah principles which deemed guaranteed returns as interest.
Instead, the returns for the shariah account would be based on portfolio performance while the conventional account is guaranteed at a 2.5 per cent minimum return on an annual basis.
Shahril Ridza also said that EPF would not press for its contributors to convert their conventional accounts into syariah-compliant accounts.
"We will let them decide what is best for them and the shariah account is open for all, Muslims and non-Muslims," he added.
Currently, shariah-compliant investment accounted for 45 per cent of the EPF's total investments of RM295 billion. - Bernama
