EPF Simpanan Shariah hits RM59.03bil

KUALA LUMPUR: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) says a total of RM59.03bil of the initial RM100bil fund allocated for Simpanan Shariah 2017 have been taken up and 635,037 members have switched to Simpanan Shariah, as at Dec 23, 2016.

“We have anticipated that at least half of the initial RM100bil fund will be taken up and we are truly encouraged by the latest statistics. For Simpanan Shariah 2018, we have allocated RM50bil as further injection,” EPF chief executive officer Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan said in a statement on Tuesday.

“We are on a good track of growing our investment in Shariah assets. About 45% of EPF’s total investment assets are already Shariah compliant and we expect to grow these assets by at least RM25bil a year on average,” he added.

Simpanan Shariah was introduced in August 2016 as an option for members who wish to convert their current conventional EPF savings to one that is managed and invested in accordance with the Shariah principles. Members who wish to switch to Simpanan Shariah 2018 may do so before Dec 24, 2017.