Matching Contribution Incentives For EPF i-Suri, i-Saraan Raised

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The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has announced a series of implementations and policy enhancements that are specifically aimed at securing the retirement future and income security of its members, both current and future ones.

This lines up with the government’s Budget 2023 and 2024 announcements addressing the evolving needs of EPF members, ensuring that their financial wellbeing and resilience stays strong during their retirement years.

EPF i-Saraan is a voluntary contribution initiative that offers opportunities for self-employed Members without fixed incomes and employees of the gig economy to obtain exclusive government incentives for retirement purposes. Under the scheme, Malaysians working in the informal sector, including the self-employed with no fixed income and under the age of 60, can voluntarily contribute up to 15% of their monthly income to the retirement fund.

At the beginning of the initiative, the government also provided a matching incentive of RM300 per year for all contributors. As of 1 January 2024, this maximum matching incentive limit for the has been raised to RM500 per year.

Incentives will also continue to be provided for i-Saraan participants who contribute, subject to a maximum lifetime incentive of RM5,000. This is being done to encourage more participation and contributions to the EPF programme, thus increasing overall retirement savings while allowing more members to benefit from government incentives.

i-Suri similar incentives for housewives, aiming to ensure the well-being of the housewives as well as to recognise their contribution to their family. The most recent increase in incentives sees the government providing a matching incentive of 50% on every RM1 voluntary contribution by housewives who are under the age of 55 and registered in the e-Kasih database, subject to a maximum incentive limit of RM300 per year.

In addition, the government will also be providing incentives to every i-Suri participant who contributes subject to a maximum lifetime incentive of RM3,000.

The EPF has also taken steps to further optimise how it handles its investment portfolios by separating the its Simpanan Konvensional and Simpanan Shariah. This strategic split is said to be to further enhance the goals of the Simpanan Shariah portfolio and better diversify the fund’s investments. According to the EPF, as of 30 September 2023, its investment assets amounted to RM1,092.32 billion, comprising 39% Shariah assets and 61% conventional assets.