Compared to pension firms in US and the Europe, “EPF is up to standard”

Somehow, positive news about Malaysia are seldom shared nowadays. Everything is bad these days, it seems. Then, everyone wonders where the negative sentiment is coming from. Anyway, kopiandproperty.my will share them then. News about our Employees Provident Fund. (EPF)
Harry Smorenberg, the Founder of World Pension Summit was quoted in an article in mysinchew.com. He said, “I have deep respect for what they (EPF) have accomplished so far and I believe they should be recognised. Comparing them to pension firms in the US and Europe, I think they are up to the standards. They are also now the first pension firm in the world to launch the Shariah-compliant pension scheme and I congratulated them for that.” Smorenberg also shared that many Western pension firms are now moving towards becoming more environmental, social and governance-compliant and this is already covered by Shariah firms by nature.
Of course, he also stated his shock that 44 per cent of the Malaysian labour force, predominantly the lower income earners, were not included in the pension scheme. He said, “The chance of them going into poverty is also a social burden in the future. It has to be paid anyhow because people need financial support to live their lives after they have retired. So, it is better to start organising it now and make them join the pension structure rather than wait till the bill comes, so to speak. And among the first challenge to improve social security management is to also include those lower income groups.”
I personally do not think there are the many countries which are able to have a pension programme for majority of the population. In brief, it’s not sustainable. The reason is because the ageing population may mean that fewer people would be supporting far greater number of the population. However, there has to be more government intervention especially when much of the population does not plan for their retirement. In this case, statutory bodies like EPF may have to play a very active role. In terms of preparing for the days after retirement however, the responsibility should also be shouldered by the individual too. I know someone would like to point out that some European nations are able to do it. Haha. Noted. Happy preparing.
written on 13 Aug 2016
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