KUALA LUMPUR (April 23): Malaysia's Retirement Fund (Inc), also known as Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) (KWAP), registered gross income of RM9.03 billion in the financial year ended Dec 31, 2017 (FY17) from RM6.36 billion a year earlier. KWAP said today gross income rose mainly on investment income.

KWAP chief executive officer Datuk Wan Kamaruzaman Wan Ahmad said investment income remained the highest contributor to the fund in FY17 at 69%, followed by employers' contribution at 27%. Wan Kamaruzaman said the portion from the Federal Government made up the remaining 4%.

"We will continue to seize new opportunities that could help us grow the fund, without compromising our risk appetite.

"We are adopting the total return approach as our primary performance metric, a more dependable method for retirement income strategies and in mitigating certain risks to generate consistent returns," he told reporters at KWAP's 2017 financial highlights briefing here today.

Moving forward, Wan Kamaruzaman said in view of the global market outlook, KWAP, which has a fund size of RM140.8 billion, is reviewing its strategic asset allocation to ensure it remains dynamic and in tune with the fund's long-term investment aspirations.

KWAP's current asset allocation comprises a 46% portion for fixed income besides 40% and 14% for equity and alternative investment respectively.

"The breakdown of our alternative investment is property (10%), private equity (3%) and infrastructure (1%)," Wan Kamaruzaman said.

He said, "Most probably a little bit more of our investment to be allocated for alternative investment and maybe slightly higher on the listed equity space. That's where we are heading right now."