SHAH ALAM: Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT) – the Armed Forces Provident Fund – today announced a dividend of five per cent with a total pay-out of RM476.45 million for its 122,935 contributors in 2022. This is comparable to the 5.3 per cent dividend for conventional savings for 2022 as announced by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) on March 4.

Do note the number of contributors – 122, 935 – in 2022 which revealed the number of personnel in the Armed Forces. LTAT contributors are serving members of the Armed Force. Once they retire or left the service by other means, they no longer contribute to the fund. The five per cent pay out – higher than last year – seemed to indicate that despite the challenging economic conditions, LTAT continue to provide for its members.

Press release from LTAT:

“2022 was a challenging year and a trying year for us at LTAT, but I am delighted to put forth that LTAT’s final phase of the Transformation Plan managed to negate the challenges and strengthen its position to remain competitive with other retirement funds.

“The plan was anchored by LTAT’s Strategic Asset Allocation (SAA) framework aimed at delivering long-term sustainable returns to our contributors.

“I am proud that we have been able to announce an improved dividend rate for 2022 in line with our Mission 5.50 to commemorate LTAT’s 50th Anniversary,” said LTAT chairman Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor.

The fund has seen a consistent increment from the implementation of Mission 5.50 in 2018, which targets to reach a 5 per cent dividend on its 50th anniversary in 2022.

The dividend rate has been rising steadily from 2 per cent in 2018 to 2.5 per cent in 2019, 3.5 per cent in 2020, and 4.1 per cent in 2021.

On the fund’s gross income, LTAT said it recorded RM652.36 million in 2022 which was mainly contributed by public and private equity investments. The revenue translates to an increase of 27.4 per cent against the previous RM511.95 million.

The statement added that the retained earnings following the dividend distribution last year stands at RM499.64 million, a significant increase of 72.8 per cent as compared to RM289.15 million in the preceding year.

The board also said that milestones achieved by them include the enforcement of the Armed Forces Fund (Amendment) Act in November 2022 that embeds the SAA framework as the guiding principle for its investment activities and provided a government guarantee on the contributions.

SAA framework requires LTAT to spread 50 per cent of its investment in public equity, 10 per cent in private equity, 10 per cent in real estate, 20 per cent in fixed income, and 10 per cent in money market.

On moving forward, LTAT said it seeks to further grow its assets under management (AUM) which stands at RM10.3 billion in 2022 and boost its solvency ratio beyond 100 per cent.

— Malaysian Defence