KUALA LUMPUR: Starting next year, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) will allow members to nominate beneficiaries without the need for a witness.
This is to encourage the 10.6 million members who have yet to name their nominees to do so. Previously, employees could choose to have a witness present when making their nominations at EPF offices.
The need for a witness to be present will no longer be required under the new procedure. Also, those making nominations are only required to bring documentary proof of those named as beneficiaries.
The EPF currently has about 14.6 million members, of whom 73% have yet to nominate their beneficiaries. Some 6.8 million members and 536,489 employers are active and contributed RM59.97bil to the EPF last year.
Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations secretary-general Datuk Paul Selvaraj lauded the move and blamed the lack of understanding of the seriousness of not naming beneficiaries as a reason why most failed to make nominations.
“I have come across cases where EPF nominations were not made and it became a nightmare for their families who had to undergo a lengthy legal process to get the money out,” he said.
Malaysian Employers Federation executive director Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan also welcomed the move but called for a simpler nomination process.
“It is a sad state of affairs when employees do not make a nomination, especially those with large savings. “It becomes a problem for the surviving families, especially if there are disputes,” he added.
Shamsuddin also cited lackadaisical attitude as a reason why so many employees do not make EPF nominations.
“Generally speaking, it is not in our culture to make wills and this also extends to making EPF nominations,” he said.
Shamsuddin suggested allowing employees to make nominations online or to allow their companies to submit their nominations to the EPF on their behalf.
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