KUALA LUMPUR, 5 January 2024 – Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) [KWAP] announced the appointment of Zarina Halim as the new Chief Retirement Services Officer of KWAP, effective 2 January 2024.
Zarina, who served in Hektar Group for over 20 years prior to joining KWAP, brings extensive experience and knowledge in the field of sustainability, where she also spearheaded the sustainability agenda for Hektar REIT, resulting in it being recognised as a four-star rated company on Bursa Malaysia’s FTSE4GD Index and receiving numerous awards in the area of Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”).
Armed with a background in sustainability, Zarina is poised to fortify KWAP’s sustainable retirement strategies in her role as the Chief Retirement Services Officer. She intends to benchmark with the top pension funds globally and emulate measures that would further improve the adequacy, sustainability, and integrity of KWAP’s pension system and operations.
In addition, her solid background in customer-facing industry where the satisfaction of customers is the central focus and crucial for success, Zarina can leverage on her vast experience in the field to oversee a diverse range of activities aimed at enhancing engagements with both current and future pensioners. This aligns with KWAP’s aspiration to extend its reach to enrich the variety and utility of engagement initiatives for its key stakeholders – the Malaysian pensioners and derivative pension recipients.
Chief Executive Officer of KWAP Datuk Hajah Nik Amlizan Binti Mohamed said, “Aligning with our tagline “Your Retirement Companion”, we hope that with Zarina joining KWAP as Chief Retirement Services Officer will further enhance our effort to empower both pensioners and future pensioners towards an ideal and fulfilling retirement. The appointment of Zarina plays an important role in supporting the strategic move of KWAP’s sustainable growth foundation, improving digitalisation, and enhancing processes under KWAP Teras 5 initiative.”
As the Chief Retirement Services Officer of KWAP, Zarina is responsible for developing and implementing policies, strategies, and initiatives of KWAP’s Retirement Services Division to maintain excellent performance of retirement services. In addition, she will oversee the monitoring of retirement services and customer service delivery to achieve the highest standards.
As of 31 December 2023, there are over 790,000 pension recipients in Malaysia – 570,000 of which are pensioners. To better prepare pensioners and future pensioners in facing our ageing nation, KWAP is actively conducting pension outreach programmes such as Jelajah MyPesara organised throughout the year across the country, providing advisory services to pensioners and future pensioners on various retirement aspects, including financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and healthcare. In addition to this, Karnival MyPesara – a one stop platform covering aspects of Health, Environment, Finance, and Social will be held annually to encourage a healthy and active lifestyle in retirement years.
Prior to joining KWAP, Zarina held the position of Chief Corporate Officer at Hektar Asset Management, the management company for Hektar REIT. She was part of the founding group in 2002 and the management group responsible for the listing of Hektar REIT on Bursa Malaysia in December 2006. She began her career with UEM Group, serving the group for almost a decade at Prolink Development, the master developer for Iskandar Puteri, Johor, and later at a venture capital arm, OptixLab.
Zarina holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and Finance (Honours) from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Law (Honours) from the University of London. Additionally, she is a Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Certified Sustainability Professional and a Certified Sustainability Reporting Specialist under the Institute of Certified Sustainability Practitioners.
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About Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan)
Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) [KWAP] or the Retirement Fund (Incorporated) was established on 1st March 2007 under the Retirement Fund Act 2007 (Act 662) replacing the repealed Pensions Trust Fund Act 1991 (Act 454).
KWAP manages contributions from the federal government and relevant agencies made into the Retirement Fund [Fund] to obtain optimum returns on its investments through sound management and investment of the Fund in equity, fixed income securities, money market instruments, and other forms of investments as permitted under the Retirement Fund Act 2007 (Act 662). The Fund shall be applied towards assisting the Federal Government in financing its pension duties. In 2015, KWAP was officially appointed as an agent of the Federal Government for the purpose of pension payment, gratuity, or other benefits granted under any written law from the Consolidated Fund as agreed between the Federal Government and KWAP.
Visit www.kwap.gov.my for more information.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Amirah Kamarulzaman
Contact Number: +603-2174 8000, ext 8669
E-mail: nurulamirah.k@kwap.gov.my
Nazlin Amirudin
Contact Number: +603-2174 8000, ext 8679
E-mail: nazlin.a@kwap.gov.my
Yasmin Syazwina
Contact Number: +6016-973 7956
