KUALA LUMPUR: Employees Provident Fund (EPF) members have withdrawn RM7.81 billion from Account 3 or the Flexible Account as of June 24.
The Finance Ministry in a parliamentary written reply yesterday said that 3.61 million or 27.8 per cent of the total EPF members under the age of 55 decided to transfer an initial amount to Account 3 from Account 2 (Sejahtera Account) with a total transfer of RM11.52 billion made as of that date.
It said a total of RM5.12 billion was transferred to Account 1 (Retirement Account) with the restructuring of EPF accounts.
"Meanwhile, 3.16 million (24.3 per cent) of members under the age of 55 have made withdrawals from Account 3, with the total withdrawal amounting to RM7.81billion," said the ministry.
The ministry said this in response to Dr Abd Ghani Ahmad (PN-Jerlun) who enquired about the status of payments from the EPF's Flexible Account (Account 3) starting May 11 to contributors, and whether the existence of the Flexible Account meets the contributors' needs for targeted EPF withdrawals.
Effective May 11, all EPF members under the age of 55 will have their accounts restructured from the two accounts previously into three.
The three accounts are the Retirement Account (Account 1) to accumulate savings that will serve as income during retirement, the Sejahtera Account (Account 2) to address life cycle needs that contribute to well-being during retirement and the Flexible Account (Account 3) as a new account that provides flexibility for short-term financial needs.
All contributions after May 11 will be allocated into the new accounts in the following manner: 75 per cent into Account 1, 15 per cent into Account 2 and 10 per cent into the Flexible Account.
Meanwhile, from May 12, 2024, until Aug 31, 2024, EPF members will have a one-time option to transfer one-third of their savings balance from Account 2 to Account 3.