Many still indifferent over EPF nomination

KUCHING: Most employees are aware of the importance of declaring a nominee or administrator for their Employees Provident Fund (EPF) savings, and consider it an important responsibility.
However, only a few can give the correct answer when asked about such things as policies, terms, rules and so forth, because many regard this with little importance.
Muhammad Elyias Omar, 30, a financial planner of a bank here, concurred because in his daily work he needed to have knowledge of financial management, and he totally understood how many out there actually viewed the issue as not that important.
He said he became aware of the importance of the EPF nomination after being briefed on the issue when he first started his job at the bank about seven years ago, and after the briefing, he immediately went straight to the EPF office to organise everything, including declaring the nominees.
He said EPF's efforts to promote understanding of the importance of declaring the nominees should be praised but added that these efforts had to be stepped up.
Elyias said there were also individuals who had no idea of the nomination and left everything to their employers, or more accurately to the human resources department, to manage their EPF contributions.
"Many are indifferent on this issue as they hardly hear anything related to it and they think that it has nothing to do with them, but it's their responsibility and they should always update their records at the EPF office to avoid any potential problem for their family members upon their death," he said.
Factory worker Muhammad Fitri Othman, 38, said everything was handed over to the human resource department at his factory as it was felt that it was the employer's responsibility to handle the matter.
He said that when a child was born, he would duly inform the human resource department and he would be given a form to declare the nominees for his EPF savings.
He was required to declare the nominees, including the percentage allocated for each one of them, including his wife and children.
Another EPF contributor, Hanaliza Mohd Hassan, 31, said she understood the importance of declaring her nominees.
However, after 16 years of working, she has yet to do just that on the grounds that she did not have the time to go to the EPF office.
Hanaliza, who has a seven-year-old son, said she did not see the nomination for her EPF contribution as a big issue and thus far she had not heard of the matter being an issue for anyone.
Association for Islamic Financial and Wealth Management Malaysia (AIFiWM) president Rohani Mohd Shahir, when asked on the matter, said the EPF contributors should be concerned enough to declare their nominees as the issue was not related to the employers. — Bernama