EPF expands its role to improve retirement adequacy for Malaysians

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EPF expands its retirement role

Highlights

After its 75th anniversary, the EPF will expand its role to achieve retirement adequacy for Malaysians while taking changing employment patterns into account.
The government has highlighted the link between retirement adequacy and national economic resilience, making long-term savings important for investment and growth.
The EPF chairman stressed that the fund must continue to grow alongside the country, remain anchored in trust and safeguard Malaysians' financial future.

This article was translated from the original. Read the original version by our correspondent here.

A new focus after the 75th anniversary

As reported by The Edge Malaysia, Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan said the EPF must help more Malaysians achieve retirement adequacy by adapting to changing employment patterns while continuing to deliver sustainable returns.

He said the EPF's ambitions after its 75th anniversary should not be limited to growing the size of the fund, but should instead focus on making it more relevant, inclusive and impactful without straying from its core responsibility to protect members' retirement savings.

In his speech at the EPF's 75th Anniversary Gala Dinner on Monday, Amir Hamzah said a modern retirement institution must see members not merely as contributors, but as individuals with aspirations, responsibilities and needs that change over time. He added that the EPF's journey continues to evolve, from savings to security and then well-being, as well as from serving individual members to helping build a stronger, more resilient nation.

Implications for national economic resilience

Amir Hamzah, who previously served as the EPF's chief executive officer before being appointed Second Finance Minister in 2023, said his experience at the fund and in government had given him two perspectives on the EPF's role.

From the government's perspective, he said retirement adequacy is closely linked to national resilience, while household financial security supports economic stability. Long-term savings, he added, provide a foundation for investment and economic growth.

EPF Chairman Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali said the fund must continue to grow alongside Malaysia while remaining anchored in the trust placed in it and its responsibility to members. He said that over the past 75 years, the EPF had grown with the country, weathering economic crises, technological change, shifts in employment patterns and disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, but its responsibility to protect Malaysians' financial future remained unchanged.

In our previous coverage of the 2027 Budget debate which reignited the issue of using GLCs and GLICs to fund non-commercial projects, we examined concerns that such a move could undermine these entities' ability to reinvest and protect the interests of depositors, contributors and retirees. The article also highlighted proposals for such commitments to be accompanied by written instructions, full cost calculations, annual disclosures and, crucially, a government repayment guarantee to prevent the erosion of core mandates and long-term returns.

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