EPF announces 6.9% dividend for conventional savings, 6.4% for shariah savings

Kwasa Land Sdn Bhd is a unit of the Employees Provident Fund

PETALING JAYA: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF), with the approval of the Finance Ministry, has declared a dividend rate of 6.9% for conventional savings (Simpanan Konvensional) for 2017, with a payout totalling RM44.15bil.

EPF also announced a 6.4% dividend rate for shariah savings (Simpanan Shariah) for 2017, with a payout totalling RM3.98bil.

The total payout for 2017 amounts to RM48.13bil, an increase of 29.8% from 2016.

EPF chairman Tan Sri Samsudin Osman said EPF was pleased with the overall performance in 2017, which was also a landmark year for EPF as it is now managing two savings schemes and declaring two dividend rates.

“Simpanan Shariah has shown a strong performance considering that this is its first dividend declaration. This reaffirms the strength and health of EPF's shariah asset and should come as good news to our members who have switched to Simpanan Shariah,” he said in a statement, on Saturday.

As for Simpanan Konvensional, the 6.9% dividend was the highest rate announced since 1997.

He added that the dividend payout for each account was derived from total gross realised income for the year after deducting the net impairment on financial assets, unrealised losses due to the foreign exchange rate and derivative prices, investment expenses, operating expenditures, statutory charges as well as dividend on withdrawals.

"Simpanan Shariah derived its income solely from its portion of shariah assets while for Simpanan Konvensional, a total of 38% of the income was generated by its share of Shariah assets and 62% from non-Shariah assets," he said.

Gross investment income for 2017 was RM53.14bil, the highest since the EPF's establishment in 1951. Of the amount, a total of RM4.60bil was attributed to Simpanan Shariah, proportionate to its share of total shariah assets while RM48.54bil was attributed to Simpanan Konvensional.

The returns for Simpanan Konvensional were enhanced by the income generated from non-shariah investments following the outperformance of global banking stocks, while Simpanan Shariah does not include conventional banking stocks due to their non-Shariah compliant status.

"In addition, equity impairments from shariah-compliant stocks, particularly the oil and gas, and telecommunication counters, lowered the income of the EPF's shariah portfolio," he said.