One hundred and eighty four of these approved funds are qualified to be offered to EPF members for the 2023/2024 period, the retirement fund said.

Of these qualified funds, 81% or 149 are local funds with 70% or 104 being equity funds.

Chief investment officer Rohaya Yusof said for the first time this year, EPF has included a sustainable responsible investment (SRI)-based unit trust fund in the list as part of its commitment to embrace sustainable investing and the mainstream sustainability agenda.

She said EPF anticipates more SRI funds that meet its evaluation criteria to be listed in the future.

“As an incentive to encourage members’ investment into an SRI-based fund, the sales charge is reduced for transactions made through EPF’s i-Invest online platform from 0.5% to 0% – or not more than 1.5% for transactions via agents,” she said in a statement.

The 299 funds approved under the MIS are evaluated annually based on EPF’s established criteria approved by the finance ministry.

The two qualifying criteria for funds evaluation include the consistency of performance and its relative performance against the benchmark.

The qualifying threshold set for these criteria is reviewed from time to time to ensure only funds with the highest quality are listed.

Under the MIS, EPF said members are given the option to invest up to 30% of the amount in excess of their EPF Account 1 savings in any of the FMIs’ offered funds.

This includes investing with unit trust management companies and private mandate companies, depending on their eligibility based on the basic savings quantum.

Rohaya said since the launch of the i-Invest platform in 2019, around RM2.15 billion had been transacted as of December 2022.

“We encourage members to take advantage of i-Invest as it provides lower upfront sales charge compared to other channels, greater flexibility, functionality and convenience for members to invest, transact, and monitor their investment funds across the FMIs,” she said.

She added that members will be able to access information on the applicable cost of investment and the historical performance of funds.

The “fund performance benchmark” feature in the platform also enables members to compare the performance of selected funds against their benchmark performance, she added.

Members are advised to exercise caution when making any investment decision and seek the right information or professional advice before committing to any transactions.

Members may consult EPF’s retirement advisory service, available at any EPF branch nationwide, prior to participating in MIS.

While EPF has approved these funds, it neither endorses nor recommends any individual fund for members to invest in.

For the full list of funds offered under each appointed FMI, members may refer to the EPF website at www.kwsp.gov.my.