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Sunday, 8 February 2015

EPF Declares 6.75 Percent Dividend For 2014


Tan Sri Samsudin Osman
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 (Bernama) -- The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) with the approval of the Minister of Finance, Saturday announced a dividend rate of 6.75 per cent for the year ended Dec 31, 2014.

The 6.75 per cent dividend amounted to a total payout of RM36.66 billion where RM5.41 billion was required to pay every one per cent of dividend rate for 2014.

This was 10.53 per cent higher compared with RM4.91 billion paid for every one per cent dividend rate for 2013, in tandem with the rise in contributors' savings said EPF Chairman Tan Sri Samsudin Osman in a statement.

"Despite uncertainties in both the domestic and global markets, our result in 2014 out performed what we had achieved in 2013. It is worth mentioning that our global investments had contributed 33 per cent towards our total income for 2014 despite being only 23 per cent of our total assets.

"No doubt the end of 2014 had been challenging for the EPF due to the slump in the global oil prices.

"The weakening of the Ringgit in the fourth quarter added further uncertainty. However, our prudent diversification approach had given us the edge and resilience to weather the economic conditions, particularly in the global markets," he said.

Samsudin said in order to correspond with the Fund's objectives to preserve and add value to members' savings, the EPF aims to provide at least a return of two (2) per cent above inflation over a three-year rolling period.

The RM39.08 billion gross investment income for financial year ended Dec 31, 2014 was an increase of 11.66 per cent compared with RM35 billion in 2013.

The 2014 gross investment income was mainly driven by Equities in domestic and global markets covering both emerging and developed countries.

The asset class recorded an investment income of RM22.91 billion in 2014, up 17.37 per cent compared with RM19.52 billion in 2013, and contributed 58.63 per cent to the total gross investment income in 2014.

Almost half of the income of the equity investment is derived from EPF's global portfolios.

The majority of the EPF's investment assets were placed in low risk fixed income instruments as this asset class provided a stable stream of income in the long run.

Samsudin said members can view the 2014 dividend announcement via EPF's Facebook page at "Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja", Twitter at KWSPBuzz and on YouTube at KWSP Malaysia.

The EPF account statement for the crediting of the 2014 dividend is available online via i-Akaun at myEPF website (www.kwsp.gov.my). Alternatively, members can obtain their statement via EPF Kiosks or visit any EPF branches starting Sunday(Feb 8).

--BERNAMA

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