SHAHRIL LEAVING BEHIND EPF IN AN ‘EXTREMELYʼ STRONG POSITION
But Shahril believes fund will be much better in 5 years than what he is leaving behind
EMPLOYEES Provident Fund (EPF) chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan, who is leaving after five years at the helm, says the organisation is now in an “extremely” strong position.
Shahril also believes five years from now, the EPF would be something much better than what he was leaving behind.
“I am very honoured to lead EPF as CEO for the last five years. If you look at EPF today, we are in an extremely strong position. We are well renowned for our governance and in our standard of integrity and service.
“Our investments are truly global. We are well regarded in the global space as a sophisticated investor. And the results speak for themselves,” he said on the sidelines at the International Social Security Conference 2018, here, yesterday.
Last year, EPF’s gross investment income rose 14 per cent year-on-year to a record RM53.14 billion.
The fund also declared its highest dividend in 20 years — 6.9 per cent for members of its conventional savings plan and 6.4 per cent for Islamic plan members.
Shahril has been appointed as the new managing director of sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd, following the resignation of Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar. He will assume duty on August 20.
The pension fund’s incoming CEO Tunku Alizakri Raja Muhammad Alias said it would be business as usual for EPF going forward.
“In EPF, we have a very dynamic five-year rolling plan. If I may say so, as a person who has been doing strategy for the past 25 years, it is one of the best that I have ever seen.
“The driver may be different but the destination is still the same. You can see I have a very strong team.
“It is going to be a very dynamic team here, it is going to be exciting EPF that you will be seeing,” said Alizakri.
Earlier, EPF chairman Tan Sri Samsudin Osman said in a statement the fund was pleased with the internal appointment.
“It is a validation of our robust succession planning, which has enabled the finance minister to choose a suitable internal candidate,” he said.
Meanwhile, Samsudin said EPF had not received any official communication on the potential merger between it and the Social Security Organisation (Socso).
Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran recently said the ministry was preparing a Cabinet paper on a possible merger between EPF and Socso, which had funds of RM26 billion and RM800 billion, respectively, as of last year.