Monday February 21, 2011
Tee Ching and Maizatul Ranai
KUALA LUMPUR: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) yesterday announced a 5.8 per cent dividend for the year ended Dec 31. The total payout is RM21.61 billion, the highest in the fund's history.
The dividend is 0.15 per cent higher than that of 2009 and the payout is 11.55 per cent higher than that of 2009 (RM19.37 billion). The dividend was 4.5 per cent in 2008 with a total payout of RM20 billion.
EPF chairman Tan Sri Samsudin Osman said the higher dividend came partly from the good performance of the stock market last year. Samsudin said the dividend rate also signified an impressive year for EPF in which gross investment income reached a historical high of RM24.06 billion or 39.76 per cent.
The amount, he said, was more than 2009's RM17.22 billion. Two-thirds of EPF's total investment assets, he said, remained in low-risk fixed income instruments with stable income. Last year, it earned RM10.94 billion from equity investments, more than double of 2009's RM4.85 billion.
Loans and bonds were the second largest investment income contributor last year, raking in RM7.02 billion compared with 2009's RM6.63 billion. EPF's third biggest investment income, amounting to RM5.3 billion, was from the Malaysian Government Securities.
This was followed by money market instruments that returned RM703.52 million, 62 per cent more than 2009's RM435.57 million.
Samsudin said the dividend payout was derived from deducting net impairment allowance on financial assets, investment expenses, operating expenditures, statutory charges and dividend on withdrawals.
Members can check their account statements via EPF kiosks, counters or i-Akaun from today. On this year's prospects, Samsudin said he was optimistic that the positive momentum would continue.