THE Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) is set to introduce a third account which will allow contributors to dip in to withdraw emergency cash, reports The Star.

The daily, quoting sources, said, the new account - to be called Account 3 or the flexible account, is expected to be announced by the end of April.

Under the scheme,  Account 1 will be renamed Account Persaraan (Retirement Account) and Account 2 as Account Sejahtera.

The new account will also be for the use of members aged below 55.

At the moment, under the two accounts system, members aged below 55 will have 70% of their contributions into Account 1 while 30% into Account 2.

With the new account, contributions will be split with 75% being put into Account 1, 15% into Account 2 and 10% into Account 3.

“Members may choose to transfer funds from Account Sejahtera to the Flexible Account via an opt-in mechanism,” a source was quoted as saying.

“Members are given until Aug 31, 2024, to opt in for the initial amount in Flexible Account,” the source added.

However members are also allowed not to transfer any amount into Account 3. In such cases, their balance will start from zero until new contributions are credited.

“Savings from the flexible account can be withdrawn by members at any time, with the minimum withdrawal amount being RM50.”

The EPF said last year that Account 3 would function like a savings account, and members could withdraw their savings at any time. – April 17, 2024.