Malaysia’s largest pension fund wants asset managers to offer target date funds on its investment platform.
Target date funds automatically adjust the investment risk in portfolios according to the age of investors. The portfolios of younger investors typically contain a higher share of growth assets which are higher risk, while older ones have a higher share of conservative assets.
Ahmad Zulqarnain Onn, chief executive officer of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), said asset managers can offer target date funds through the pension fund’s members investment scheme.
“Under this scheme, members above a certain threshold [of savings] can invest in unit trusts. We do encourage providers to include things like target date funds on the platform,” Ahmad Zulqarnain said at a press conference on February 28 held to announce the EPF’s 2025 financial results.
Target date funds have become a key part of the retirement system in countries like Australia, Canada and the US.
Last month, Singapore’s Central Provident Fund announced plans to introduce a lifetime retirement investment scheme, which has similar characteristics to target date funds, in 2028.
The EPF manages retirement savings of private sector employees and the self-employed, with 1.4 trillion ringgit (US$354.66 billion) of assets under management at the end of 2025.
