KWSP logo is seen at their headquaters in Kuala Lumpur AZHAR MAHFOF/The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: The number of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) members who applied for lump-sum savings withdrawal on reaching the age of 55 fell year-on-year in the third quarter (Q3), indicating better awareness on the benefits of saving.
In a statement on its Q3 performance (operations), the country’s top retirement savings fund said the number of approved applications for Age 55 Full Withdrawal slid 6.8% in the quarter ended Sept 30 to 46,999 applications, with the withdrawn amount shrinking 15.2% to RM2.29bil.
EPF chief executive officer Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan attributed the drop in applicant number to more members recognising the benefits of stretching their retirement savings further while capitalising on yearly dividends.
In contrast, the number of approved applications for flexible withdrawal at age 55 rose 7.3% to 86,684 from a year earlier while the sum withdrawn was smaller at RM2.53bil compared with RM3.28bil previously.
The number of approved applications for investment withdrawal via the Members Investment Scheme (MIS), meanwhile, increased 15.4% to 179,351 involving an amount of RM1.57bil in Q3 2016 from 155,417 involving an amount of RM1.51bil in the corresponding period of 2015.
The total approved applications for education withdrawals, meanwhile, more than doubled (+117.2%) to 60,318 involving RM359.70mil against 27,776 approved applications involving RM155.95mil previously. The majority was to settle the National Higher Education Fund Corp (PTPTN) education loans.
As at Sept 2016, accumulated contributions amounted to RM664.33bil, up 9.0% from a year earlier. Contributions received in Q3 2016 totalled RM14.74bil, an increase of 3.4% from the same quarter last year.
EPF also reported double-digit percentage increase in the usage of its physical and digital customer service platforms, comprising i-Akaun, EPF Kiosks and myEPF, which again emerged as the preferred mode of transaction with the EPF in the quarter under review.
During Q3 2016, the usage of i-Akaun soared 46.77% year-on-year to 4.54 million while visitor traffic to the myEPF portal jumped 38.88% to 5.6 million. Meanwhile, usage of EPF Kiosks increased 31.1% to 3.29 million in Q3 2016.
“We have made exceptional customer experience one of the core component of our flagship initiatives, and the Q3 2016 operations results clearly showed that members’ expectations about every aspect of our service, including speed and convenience, have increased,” Shahril said.
He noted that one of the fund’s key targets by 2020 was to ensure 80% of its interactions with members were carried out electronically and 60% with employers.
Aside from digital platforms, visitors to EPF’s service counters nationwide also increased -- by 11.9% to 1.26 million -- in Q3 2016. This was attributed to the surge in over-the-counter visitors who wished to opt for Simpanan Shariah, which has received good response since registration began on Aug 8.
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