Employees Provident Fund

Employees' Provident Fund (EPF; Malay: Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja, KWSP) is a federal statutory body under the purview of the Ministry of Finance. It manages the compulsory savings plan and retirement planning for private sector workers in Malaysia. Membership of the EPF is mandatory for Malaysian citizens employed in the private sector, and voluntary for non-Malaysian citizens. History Malaysian EPF was established in 1 October 1951 pursuant to the Employees Provident Fund Ordinance 1951, under the National Director of Posts. This law became the EPF Act 1951. In 1982, then the EPF Act 1991 in 1991. The EPF Act 1991 requires employees and their employers to contribute towards their retirement savings, and allows workers to withdraw these savings at retirement or for special purposes before then. As of 31 December 2012, EPF has 13.6 million members, of which 6.4 million are active contributing members. At the same date, EPF had 502,863 contributing employers. The EPF is intended to help employees from the private sector save a fraction of their salary in a lifetime banking scheme, to be used primarily as a retirement fund but also in the event that the employee is temporarily or no longer fit to work. The EPF also provides a framework for employers to meet legal and moral obligations to their employees. As of 31 December 2020, the size of the EPF asset size stood at RM998 billion. (US$238 billion), making it the fourth largest pension fund in Asia and seventh largest in the world.