Malaysia is considering Ahmad Zulqarnain, CEO of the country’s largest asset manager Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), to head the state’s major pension fund.
The position became vacant after Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim appointed Amir Hamzah Azizan, the previous CEO of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), as the second finance minister during a cabinet reshuffle in December.
The appointment came as the EPF, the world’s 12th largest pension fund, seeks to recover its reserves after record withdrawals of subscribers’ funds during the COVID pandemic.
Malaysians have withdrawn about 145 billion ringgits (about $30.6 billion) in retirement savings from the EPF between 2020 and 2022, raising concerns about overburdening health care funding in the long term.
The EPF, founded in 1951, is the world’s 12th-largest pension fund with 15.72 million members and total assets of about 1 trillion ringgits (nearly $211.5 billion), the 2022 annual report showed.
EPF’s investments in the Malaysian public equity market include the country’s largest bank, Malayan Banking (MBBM.KL), and power utility Tenaga Nasional (TENA.KL). The EPF also invests in private markets including real estate and private equity.
Ahmad Zulqarnain’s appointment is expected to be announced as early as the end of January.
