IslamicFinance.de

It would be interesting to see just how large the actual appetite is for the Employees Provident Fund’s new shariah-compliant fund, EPF-i, which does not have the minimum 2.5% annual return guarantee and is relying only on the EPF’s track record.
The demand factor from the 6.8 million active and contributing EPF members could well determine just how big a mover EPF-i will have on the local market, experts say. According to a recent survey by the EPF, 71% of members surveyed agreed there should be a shariah-compliant option for their retirement savings. And among the 71% who agree, 46.1% say they would choose to switch to a shariah fund if given the choice, 33.2% have yet to decide and the remaining 21.7% would not switch out of the conventional savings.
It is not known how much EPF savings the 46.1% have but at parity, their asset base would be about RM224 billion — double the intended initial fund size of EPF-i, which is slated to be launched in January next year. The other wild card for actual demand are the fence-sitters (see accompanying story).