A visitor reading the brochure on Employees Provident Fund’s Simpanan Shariah. — Bernama photo
KUALA LUMPUR: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF)’s Simpanan Shariah, which opened for registration yesterday, attracts subscribers from all races and religions.
EPF is allocating RM100 billion for Simpanan Shariah 2017 and is based on a first-come first-served basis.
Surveys conducted by Bernama nationwide saw subscribers queuing at EPF counters as early as 8am to get the ‘akad wakalah’ form which they have to fill to indicate that they agree to make the switch from their current EPF conventional savings.
As of 8.30am, 5,000 subscribers have applied to convert their current EPF conventional savings to Simpanan Shariah at 68 EPF branches nationwide.
In KOTA BAHARU, EPF is targetting 80 per cent of its 504,361 subscribers to switch to the Simpanan Shariah.
Its deputy chief executive officer, Datuk Mohd Naim Darwish said this was because majority of EPF subscribers in Kelantan are Muslims and believed they would want their savings to be invested through a shariah-compliant investment.
In Butterworth, EPF deputy chief executive officer (Investment), Datuk Mohamed Nasir Ab Latif said the response from subscribers to convert their EPF conventional savings to Simpanan Shariah was overwhelming and did not rule out the possibility of EPF running out of fund soon.
He was met at the Seberang Jaya EPF office here, yesterday, to observe the registration for the Simpanan Shariah.
In JOHOR BAHARU, EPF deputy chief executive officer (strategy) Tunku Alizakri Raja Muhammad Alias, said he also expected overwhelming response from EPF subscribers in Johor to switch to Simpanan Shariah.
“We want to ensure the product we are offering is the one desired and wanted by members (subscribers). We are proud to be able to introduce the first and biggest Simpanan Shariah scheme,” said Tunku Alizakri.
In ALOR SETAR, Kedah/Perlis EPF head R Anbananthan Rajandren said until 9.30am yesterday, a total of 216 subscribers had switched and registered their savings to the new scheme.
He said the registration process ran smoothly and only took 2 minutes for each subscriber.
Former Ayer Hitam State Assemblyman Abdul Ghani Ahmad was among the earliest to switch his scheme at the Alor Setar EPF’s branch, here.
In Ipoh, state EPF head Jeffary Mohamed Isa(rpt: Jeffary) said close to 200 subscribers registered to switch to the new scheme in just one hour after 20 of its registration counters opened at 8am.
According to Jeffary, there are 349,304 Muslim EPF subscribers in Ipoh, which has a total of 613,535 subscribers.
Meanwhile in SEREMBAN, Negeri Sembilan EPF head Melati Mohamed said as of 11.10am yesterday, a total of 479 subscribers had applied to switch their scheme.
In KANGAR, the Kangar EPF branch head, Mohd Majdy Mohd Said said more than 19,000 of the 24,000 EPF subscribers in Perlis were Malays, but the non-Muslims were also welcomed to also switch their conventional saving to shariah.
In KUCHING, subscribers were at the Simpang Tiga EPF office as early as 7am to register for the Simpanan Shariah.
In SHAH ALAM, some of the subscribers were at the office as early as 6.30am.
A subscriber, Aida Asmuni said she chose to switch to Simpanan Shariah as part her obligation as a Muslim to ensure her investments in EPF complied with Syariah laws.
“The issue of getting more or less dividend does not cross my mind, what is more important is my subscription now is shariah-compliance,” she said when met at the Shah Alam EPF office, here, yesterday.
In KOTA KINABALU, Sabah EPF head, Azzriyana Kamalia Abdullah said as of 11am yesterday, a total of 150 subscribers registered for the scheme.
She said there are 1,326,777 subscribers in the state and 798,050 of them are Muslims.
In Kuantan, Pahang EPF head Mohamed Zubir Alias said the number of visitors to the EPF offices yesterday increased three folds, from about 300 people on normal days.
“Until 1.30pm, more than 1,000 subscribers have registered to switch their scheme, the crowd is unexpected,” he said.
Mohamed Zubir said he expected more than 45 per cent of the over 284,000 Muslim subscribers to switch their current saving scheme to Simpanan Shariah. — Bernama