This paper documents the best practices and practical lessons learned from Malaysia’s largest mandatory public provident fund, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).
... See More + The objective of this paper is to increase the knowledge base of efficient pension funds for developing countries, drawing from Malaysia’s experiences. Findings include key critical factors that contributed to the successof the EPF, from a small pension fund set up in 1949, to become one of the largest pension fund among developing countries and the 15th largest in the world. This paper summarizes the EPF’s key strategies in corporate governance, investment, and operational strategies, as well as policies deployed by the EPF in managing its assets. The lessons from the EPF come from three main factors. Firstly, the EPF has developed a strong governance structure which discourages external politicalmeddling and encourages transparency and accountability. Secondly, the EPF’s investments strategy, guided by its Strategic Asset Allocation, including diversifying to foreign markets and new asset classes, has enabled the Fund to produce enhanced returns. Thirdly, the EPF’s operational effectiveness which is driven by the professionalism of their employees and their continuous improvement for members’ benefit. Nonetheless, several challenges remain in the present and in the future. The first challenge involves demographic changes as Malaysia is ageing more rapidlythan other countries and even now a sizable number of workers do not have the recommended minimum savings level needed for retirement. A revamp of the current model is needed to ensure that members will be financially independent post-retirement. The second challenge is lack of coverage: only half of those in the labour force are contributing to the EPF, which leaves the other half without oldage pension coverage. A reform agenda needs to expand coverage particularly for the self-employed. The final challenges are maintaining public trust and staying relevant, especially in the age of the fourth industrial revolution and the emerging gig economy that has different needs and demands. This case study will hopefully be of benefit to both policy makers andpractitioners, particularly in the developing world. It could help play an important part in designing a successful provident fund to contribute to a comprehensive social safety net for citizens.
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Working Paper 131289 OCT 01, 2018
Price,William Joseph; Khalif,Muhammed Abdul; De Luna-Martinez,Jose; Zhang,Wei; Arshad,Ashraf BinDisclosed
Vietnam Prosperity Joint-Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) headquartered in Hanoi, was founded in 1993 as the Vietnam Joint-Stock Commercial Bank for Private Enterprises.
... See More + Since changing its name in 2010, the bank has amassed a nationwide footprint with 216 retail branches over 70 Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) centers. Further, it has more than 470 branded automated teller machines (ATMs) and 105 cash deposit machines (CDM). VPBank provides commercial and retail banking products and services in Vietnam including deposit products, loans, insurance products, credit cards, international payment and remittance services, trade finance, foreign exchange, Internet and mobile banking, SMS banking, and e-commerce services. In 2017, the bank’s total assets exceeded $12 billion. The bank was selected by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to pilot the Basel Two implementation roadmap in Vietnam. Moving forward, the goal is to become a leading retail bank in Vietnam, while expanding its lending activities to import and export businesses, and SMEs. In 2017, the bank ventured into the Micro SME segment, which yielded a tenfold increase in the SME unsecured loan balance from 2015, when VPBank started exploring this segment.
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The Transportation networks of the world span many modes. Railways are a critical and climate-friendly component of these networks – supporting development through industrial and economic growth, trade, and mobility.
... See More + Economic growth in developing countries will increase the demand for transport, therefore, good linkages between railways and other modes are needed. This often requires investment and changes in business modality to be successful. Additionally, railways must be well-managed to achieve their potential, by being customer oriented and providing quality services at a low price. In the absence of these attributes, customers will use other modes despite rail’s inherent advantages. Reforms in sector governance and structure are often needed for this to happen.
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Brief 129782 SEP 01, 2018
Lawrence,Martha B.; De Leon De Maria,NicolasDisclosed
Developing a proper governance and regulatory framework for blockchain-based applications will be essential to providing market participants the stability they need to fully engage with the technology and allowing innovation to flourish.
... See More + Given the global, multi-sectoral reach of blockchain, regulators, and industry will have to work in a collaborative manner to ensure they can both experiment and learn, and so shape the future of the technology in a way that benefits all parties and society as a whole.
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State-owned enterprises play an important role in economic growth and the delivery of critical public services such as health, education, water, and energy.
... See More + The underperformance of state-owned enterprises can lead to significant challenges in overall national growth and competitiveness and pose a fiscal risk to the government. Consequently, improving the performance of state-owned enterprises remains an important issue for policy makers and development practitioners. More recently, efforts to strengthen corporate governance have been gaining international momentum as a means to improve the performance of state-owned enterprises. This study aims to examine the relationship between corporate governance and the performance of state-owned enterprises. Using data from 320 state-owned enterprises in the Republic of Korea, the study examines the effects of corporate governance on various measures of state-owned enterprise performance, including performance evaluation results, customer satisfaction, and financial performance. The empirical results indicate that board size, corporatization, and transparency and disclosure are positively related to the performance of state-owned enterprises, suggesting that they have an impact on the efficiency of state-owned enterprises. Independence of the board of directors and separation between the positions of board chair and chief executive officer have an insignificant or negative impact on specific measures of performance. These results suggest that a larger board, corporatization of state-owned enterprises, and more transparent disclosure practices can be beneficial for the performance of state-owned enterprises.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8555 AUG 16, 2018
