KUALA LUMPUR: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) plans to launch its first fully syariah-compliant fund by January 2017 with an initial fund size of up to RM120bil.

Those who are interested in converting their savings to full syariah compliant status can do so on a first come first serve basis, EPF deputy chief executive officer of investments Datuk Mohamad Nasir Ab Latif told reporters on Thursday.

The pension fund’s total investment assets grew to RM667.56bil as at September last year. Its total income for the first nine months of last year amounted to RM31.58bil.

A total of 51% of the EPF’s portfolio mix comprises of fixed income investments, while 43% is from equities. The remainder is from real estate and infrastructure as well as other investments.

As at Dec 31, 2015, about 40% of its total investments were syariah-compliant.

In a previous statement, the fund said it planned to introduce a syariah-compliant option to members by 2017, having ascertained that there was a sufficient supply of syariah-compliant assets in the market.

The fund had recently lowered employees’ monthly statutory contribution rate to 8% from 11% previously following the presentation of the recalibrated Budget 2016 on Jan 28.