Malaysia's 526.8 billion ringgit ($171.2 billion) Employees Provident Fund, Kuala Lumpur, outsourced 57.67 billion ringgit to external fund managers, or roughly 11% of the mandatory national retirement scheme's investment assets, according to an announcement April 4 on the EPF's website.
An EPF spokesman couldn't immediately be reached for comparable year-earlier figures.
The EPF announcement cited the provident fund's allocations to external managers as “part of its diversification strategy and to further develop the fund management industry in Malaysia.”
EPF Chairman Tan Sri Samsudin Osman, speaking April 3 at an EPF annual awards ceremony to recognize the fund's top-performing external managers, noted Malaysia's fund management industry “has grown in size and capability, from only a handful of local managers to an impressive list that includes foreign players,” according to the fund's announcement.
In the announcement, the EPF chairman said the EPF will closely monitor its external managers to ensure they're delivering value for plan participants, adding the EPF will “reward the performers while those who underperformed will be phased out.”
Asked what criteria the EPF employs to fire an underperforming manager, EPF spokesman Nik Affendi Jaafar, in an e-mail, declined to elaborate.
On April 3, the local arms of Nomura Asset Management, Aberdeen Asset Management, Amundi Asset Management and Franklin Templeton Investments picked up the bulk of the EPF's awards for three-year and one-year performance through 2012.
The EPF recognized Nomura Asset Management Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. for the best three-year returns managing Malaysian equities and the best three-year returns managing international equities against an MSCI ethical benchmark, ex-Japan and Malaysia.
Aberdeen Asset Management Sdn. Bhd. received the award for best 2012 returns managing Malaysian equities and the best returns for the year managing international equities, against a FTSE Ethical World Developed benchmark.
Franklin Templeton Asset Management (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. got the nod for the best 2012 returns managing international equities, against an MSCI ethical Asia ex-Japan and Malaysia benchmark.
The EPF recognized Amundi Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. for the best three- and one-year international equity returns against a FTSE ASEAN ex-Malaysia benchmark, and for the best three-year international equity returns against a FTSE ethical world developed benchmark.
The EPF recognized Kuala Lumpur-based AMInvestment Management Sdn. Bhd. for the best three-year and one-year results managing domestic fixed income.
