EPF outsources RM117.56 billion to external fund managers

KUALA LUMPUR: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) says it had outsourced a total of RM117.56 billion to external fund managers as at Dec 31, 2018, up 2.62 per cent over the RM114.56 billion in 2017.

Chairman Tan Sri Samsudin Osman said this allocation, invested across both equity and fixed income instruments, represented 14.10 per cent of the EPF's total investment assets.

“As the EPF's fund size grows, we will continue to outsource a portion of our funds to external fund managers as part of our diversification programme and to better manage the performance of our assets,” he said in a statement.

Speaking at the EPF External Fund Managers Annual Awards 2019 held yesterday, he said startingthisyear,theEPF'snewlyformed External Fund Managers Department will streamline the monitoring of external fund management across equity and fixed income asset classes, to tap into external fund managers' specialised knowledge, skills sets and exposure in order to deliver sustainable, value-added returns over the long run.

“The restructuring would provide greater clarity to the EPF's external fund management activities and make it more effective to monitor performance, communicate and execute EPF's investment strategies in line with its core investment philosophy of earning superior risk-adjusted returns with a long-term perspective,” he said.

At the awards ceremony, 20 awards were presented to the top performing external fund managers. The objective of the annual award is to recognise outstanding performance by external fund managers in managing EPF's investment portfolio.

“The EPF sets high standards on our fund performance, and as such we would like to express our highest appreciation to all fund managers for their efforts in delivering to the EPF commendable performance over the past year and by extension, to the retirement well-being of our members,” added Samsudin. — Bernama