KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 — Eligible members of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) can now make an informed investment of unit trust funds offered by EPF-approved Fund Management Institutions (FMIs) through the self-service i-Invest online platform within the i-Akaun portal.
For members below 55 years old, an investment can be funded directly from the eligible portion of members’ savings under Account 1 with a sales charge ranging from zero to 0.5 per cent of the transaction amount.
EPF chief executive officer Tunku Alizakri Alias said the digitally powered facility empowers members to take control of their investments and make transactions at nearly zero cost.
“To ensure they are as informed as possible, i-Invest contains tools to obtain and compare relevant information, and enables the right selection of unit trust funds that best suit our members’ savings goals.
“We are also proud as we believe the EPF is the first in the world to directly link members’ retirement funds to online investment services,” he said in a statement today.
Members may transfer from their EPF Account 1 up to 30 per cent of the amount in excess of Basic Savings, to be invested in the qualified funds.
Members can also open an account to invest in unit trust funds with any FMI through this new facility.
A key element of the online investment facility according to Tunku Alizakri was that sales charges were now practically free, as the EPF has enforced a maximum cap of 0.5 per cent compared to the current 3 per cent for offline and traditional transactions through agents.
Meanwhile, members aged 55 and above can utilise i-Invest using Akaun 55 or Akaun Emas through i-Akaun as a mode of withdrawal, subject to maintaining a minimum of RM1,000 in their account.
For the period of 2019/2020, a total of 389 funds from various categories, namely equity, mixed assets, bond, money market and property trusts, were approved under the EPF members investment scheme. — Bernama
