KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 17): The Employees Provident Fund said on Monday (Nov 17) its investment income in the recently-ended quarter grew 27% but sounded a note of caution for the final quarter of the year.

Investment income for the three months ended Sept 30 was RM25.07 billion amid a rally in global equity markets during the quarter that allowed its fund managers to capture market opportunities and lock in gains, the pension fund known as EPF said in a statement.

However, equity valuations are now broadly elevated and there are mixed signals from global economic indicators that may temper the pace of interest rate reductions, said chief executive officer Ahmad Zulqarnain Onn.

“The EPF is actively managing these risks by accelerating the locking-in of profits at a pace that may be hard to match” in the fourth quarter, he added.

The pension fund, one of the world’s largest in terms of asset size, generated more than half of its income from foreign investments during the quarter.

In terms of asset class, domestic and foreign equities accounted for 68% of its income.

In Malaysia, the EPF owns substantial stakes in some of the biggest listed corporations in wide-ranging sectors, from financial services firm RHB Bank Bhd (KL:RHBBANK) to construction company Malaysian Resources Corporation Bhd (KL:MRCB).

Fixed income, an asset class comprising both government and private bonds and loans that provides a steady drip of returns, accounted for 27% of income. Real estate and infrastructure contributed 4% and the rest came from money market instruments.

The bulk of the total investment income was generated for the conventional during the quarter.

For the first nine months, investment income totalled RM63.99 billion, an 11% increase from the same period in 2024. Assets under management grew 12% to RM1.37 trillion.

Operationally, the EPF added 427,329 new contributors during the period, racking up over 16.5 million members by the end of September. More than nine million members are active, representing 52% of the total labour force in the country.

The fund also registered 62,401 new employers, bringing the total to 628,321 active employers as at September 2025.