AIA rolls out its Private Retirement Scheme

by **hlk** Fri 17 May 2013, 18:07

American International Assurance Bhd (AIA) today rolled out its Private
Retirement Scheme (PRS), further augmenting its comprehensive suite of
products, which aims to address the protection, savings and retirement
needs of its over 2.6 million policyholders.

In a statement today, AIA said its has four PRS funds that cater to different age groups.

It said these comprise the growth fund for those below 40 years of
age, the moderate fund for those between 40 to 49 years, the
conservative fund tailored for those above 50 years, and the Islamic
moderate fund, a shariah-compliant fund.

"The funds are invested in equities as well as fixed income
instruments, in varied percentages according to the different risk
profiles," it added.

AIA Pension and Asset Management Sdn Bhd (AIA PAM) Head of PRS Tan Jin
Teik said the retirement funding market in Malaysia is at an early
stage, and remains fairly untapped.

He said as at end-March this year, only 24,000 Malaysians had signed up for this retirement fund option.

In terms of market potential, Malaysia also has over two million
working adults who are self-employed and not covered under the Employees
Provident Fund (EPF) scheme.

"Our PRS can also complement a person's existing retirement savings in EPF and potentially offer higher returns," he said.

AIA PAM is the fund management arm of AIA Malaysia, which is one of
the two life insurance companies to be awarded the PRS licence by the
Securities Commission last year. It will also be managing the PRS funds.

"We will be leveraging on AIA's tied agency force of close to 17,000
life planners who are trained to help consumers plan their protection,
savings and retirement needs in a holistic manner to market our PRS
funds and educate our customers on the benefits of PRS.

"It is essential that consumers plan early to achieve their desired retirement lifestyle.

"With the Group's sound track record in terms of fund management, we
aim to deliver commendable returns through our PRS products," Tan
added.-- Bernama