PETALING JAYA: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) members can now invest in unit trust funds directly through their account.
The pension fund today announced the launch of the i-Invest online platform that would allow its members to invest in unit trust funds from approved fund management institution (FMI) via its member portal.
For members below 55 years old, 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% of the transaction amount.
According to EPF CEO Tunku Alizakri Alias, the digital facility will allow members to take control of their investments and make transactions at nearly zero cost.
He highlighted that a key element of the online investment facility was that sales charges were now practically free, as the EPF has enforced a maximum cap of 0.5% compared to the current 3% for offline and traditional transactions through agents.
“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 suits our members’ savings goals,” he said in a press release.
i-Invest will also enable EPF members to compare different unit trust funds offered by the FMI, monitor investments through their i-Akaun, look up information on investment cost and historical performance, as well as required statutory information.
For members interested in utilising its i-Invest platform, Tunku Alizakri advised the members to exercise caution when making any investment decision and encouraged them to arm themselves with the right information or seek professional advice before committing to any transactions.
Under the platform, members may transfer from their EPF Account 1 up to 30% of the amount in excess of basic savings, to be invested in the qualified funds.
In addition, members can open an account to invest in unit trust funds with any FMI through this new facility.
Members aged 55 and above can utilise i-Invest via Akaun 55 or Akaun Emas as
a mode of withdrawal, subject to maintaining a minimum of RM1,000 in their account.
For 2019 and 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.
