Bangkok--17 Aug--SEC
The SEC reveals that provident funds offering employee’s choice continually increased in Q2/2012. The record showed an increase of 176 employers offering employee’s choice or a 5% rise over previous quarter, as employer realizes the benefits that its employees will receive from diversifying investment policies.
“Provident funds with employee’s choice continually gain popularity, as employers and organizations realize the benefits of employee’s choice that offers diversifying investment choices in response to a wide range of each member’s demand. Moreover, the SEC promotes the establishment of such funds to allow members to have investment alternative in accordance with risk tolerance and expectation of return,” said Assistant Secretary-General Duangmon Chuengsatiansup.
As of Q2/2012, a total of 3,710 employers offered employee’s choice to members, a 5% rise over previous quarter, which accounted for 31.5% of all employers nationwide compared to 30.7% in Q1/2012. Meanwhile, provident fund with multiple investment policies (master fund) increased to 106, a rise of 1.9% over previous quarter which accounted for 23.6% of total funds.
The number of provident funds as of Q2/2012 slightly decreased due to the dissolution of the funds to join master pooled fund. In terms of the fund size, 83.7% of total funds are large in size with net asset value (NAV) over 100 million baht each, while 78.2% of total funds are joined by over 500 members.
The overview performance of provident funds in Q2/2012 showed a continual increase over Q1/2012 both in terms of NAV, the number of employers and members. As of Q2/2012, the NAV was at 656,240 million baht, a 2.8% rise over previous quarter, while the number of employers was at 11,793, increasing 295 or 2.6% over previous quarter, while the number of members went up to 2,338 million, approximately increasing 15,000 or 0.3% rise over previous quarter.
“Continually increase in the numbers of employers providing employee’s choice helps the fund’s members manage their savings effectively and promotes national savings to support self-reliant of aged-population after retirement. It also helps relieve burden on their children and national budget in the future. The SEC supports a variety of investment vehicles to facilitate savings and investment of all groups of population,” said Ms. Duangmon.