We, therefore, expect a moderation in income growth for upcoming quarters,” added Shahril.Equities accounted for 41.96% of EPF’s total investment assets as at Q2 2017. They contributed RM6.18bil of income, or 61.45% higher than RM3.83bil a year ago. However, the investment income was slightly lower as income from equities fell to RM6.181bil from RM7.097bil in Q1FY17.The EPF also benefited from diversification into other asset classes that provide stable streams of income, including fixed income instruments and Real Estate & Infrastructure investments through its subsidiaries.A total of RM820.71mil out of the total investment income of RM11.51bil was generated for Simpanan Shariah, while RM10.69bil was generated for Simpanan Konvensional.Simpanan Shariah derives its income solely from its portion of the Shariah assets. Income for Simpanan Konvensional is generated by its share of both Shariah and non-Shariah assets.“In Equities, the banking sector has been outperforming since the beginning of the year while the bulk of our impairments recorded for the quarter came from the telecommunications and oil and gas sectors.“If this continues, we expect that Simpanan Konvensional will benefit from the former and outperform in the short term.”The value of EPF investment assets rose 3.92% to RM759.78bil from RM731.11 billion as at Dec 31, 2016. Out of the total investment assets, RM362.50bil, or 47.71%, were in Shariah-compliant investments and the balance were invested in non-Shariah assets.As June 30, 2017, the EPF’s overseas investments, or 29% of its total investment asset, contributed 32.5% to the total investment income in Q2 2017.“Our foreign investments have proved to be a significant revenue driver in recent years, despite making up less than 30 per cent of total investment portfolio as at Q2 2017.

Source: The Star September 15, 2017 04:47 UTC