KWAP chief investment officer Hazman Hilmi Sallahuddin
KUALA LUMPUR: The Retirement Fund Inc’s (KWAP) net income surged 36-times to RM9.7 billion for the financial year 2023 (FY2023) -- its second highest figure since 2017-- compared to RM263 million reported in 2022.
Chief investment officer Hazman Hilmi Sallahuddin attributed this substantial growth to the challenging conditions of 2022, which saw KWAP encountering unrealised losses from its domestic and international investments.
The fund also achieved a robust total fund investment return of 8.2 per cent for the year.
"In FY2023, KWAP's fund size grew to RM169.8 billion, marking a 7.4 per cent increase from RM158.1 billion in 2022,” he said during KWAP's FY2023 financial performance results announcement today.
According to Hazman Hilmi, despite withdrawals totalling RM3 billion to partially finance the government’s pension liabilities, the net increase of RM11.7 billion year-on-year highlights KWAP’s ongoing commitment to prudently manage assets and optimise investment returns.
He added that KWAP has continued to focus on comprehensive investment planning and strategy formulation, adopting an inclusive approach to ensure sustainable growth.
For FY2023, KWAP’s asset allocation was as follows: 47.9 per cent in public equity, 35.5 per cent in fixed income, 5.3 per cent in real estate, 4.8 per cent in private equity, 2.1 per cent in infrastructure, and 4.4 per cent in the money market.
"The contributions amount received in 2023 of RM2.7 billion were from three main sources -- federal government contributions, government shares, and employer contributions.
"The latter included contributions from statutory bodies, local authorities, and secondment agencies,” he said.
Additionally, KWAP has committed to strengthening Malaysia’s venture capital (VC) ecosystem through the Dana Perintis initiative launched in 2023.
With an allocation of RM500 million, the initiative aims to accelerate growth within the Malaysian entrepreneurial landscape, empower early-stage companies, drive innovation and enhance economic resilience.
Meanwhile, KWAP chief executive officer Datuk Nik Amlizan Mohamed said as of Dec 31, 2023, KWAP served 790,772 Malaysian pension recipients.
This represents a 2.8 per cent increase, or 21,825 additional pension recipients, compared to 2022.
"Despite the increase of pension recipients in 2023, service-level agreement (SLA) performance for pension services achieved an annual weighted score of 99.4 per cent in 2023, surpassing the performance threshold of 95 per cent as set in the SLA with the Public Service Department (JPA),” she said.
She added that KWAP has been awarded the unqualified audit opinion for the FY2023 financial audit by the Auditor-General and is preparing to introduce its first integrated annual report. - Bernama
