The appointment will fill the role left vacant after Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim named Amir Hamzah Azizan, the previous CEO of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), as second finance minister in a Cabinet reshuffle in December.
Zulqarnain’s appointment is expected to be announced by the end of January, two of the sources said.
In an emailed response to a Reuters query today, an EPF spokesman said the pension fund was “unable to offer any comments at this time on leadership changes”.
The Prime Minister’s Office and PNB did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak with the media.
The appointment comes as EPF, the world’s 12th-largest pension fund, looks to rebuild its reserves following record withdrawal of subscriber funds during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Markets will also be keenly watching Zulqarnain’s role in scaling up domestic investments following calls by Anwar to government-linked institutions to support the country’s economy.
Between 2020 and 2022, Malaysians withdrew some RM145 billion in retirement savings from EPF, leading to concerns of a strain on healthcare funding in the long run.
Zulqarnain, a Harvard University graduate, was appointed in July 2020 to head PNB, which managed RM343.1 billion (US$72.55 billion) of assets as at Nov 30, 2022, according to its website.
Under his leadership, PNB spearheaded the creation of Malaysia’s largest automotive group to support the country’s electric vehicle push, and sought to add infrastructure assets into its portfolio as part of a diversification strategy, among others.
Before joining PNB, Zulqarnain was previously deputy managing director at Khazanah Nasional Bhd, Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund.
Established in 1951, EPF has 15.72 million members and total assets of about RM1 trillion, its 2022 annual report said.
EPF’s investments in the Malaysian public equities market include the country’s largest bank, Malayan Banking Bhd, and electricity utility Tenaga Nasional Bhd.
EPF also invests in private markets, including real estate and private equity.