SEC and the AOP are accepting application for the 7th PVD Contest 2018 with the royal plaque award from Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. The objective of the contest is to select the provident fund with  good management, which will be qualified by various factors, including good governance in investment, the standard of control and management of investment, the roles of the investment management companies towards to promotion of knowledge to their members, and the development of the provident fund industry. The Investment Governance Code or I Code is also another qualifying requirement in the contest this year. Additionally, the SEC will grant the winner an Excellent PVD plaque, which is a reward for the provident fund with high development in technology that reached the Global Investment Performance Standard (GIPS).

AOP President Dr. Pisit Leeatham said “The PVD Contest has been held for the 7th year now, with the objective of selecting the provident fund which implements good governance, is accepted by its members, and is able to bring about the growth of their investment that would lead to sufficient retirement income for their employees. The management model of the winner will be a good example for other provident funds, and can also be used as a stimulant to the provident fund industry to become more renowned by the pubic. This contest holds three different categories which are single fund of state enterprise, single fund of private companies, and pooled funds of asset management companies. Any provident fund can apply and submit documents until 9 November 2018. The winner will be announced and granted the plaque reward on Thursday 21 February 2019 at Sofitel Sukhumvit hotel.

SEC Assistant Secretary-General Nataya Niyamanusorn said “The provident funds are a tool used as a systematic and long-term saving to prepare for a life after retirement no matter how much the income person would have after retirement, daily expenses and health care expenses are major expenses. Currently, there are 383 provident funds, with a total number of over 3 million employees, 17,866 employers, and overall net asset value of 1.1 trillion Thai baht. That is why provident funds are a huge source of investment funds which is important for the economy and the development of the country. This contest is held to encourage employers to pay more attention to provident funds, and to provide more information related to the benefits that both employers and employees would obtain from effective investment management, resulting in a sufficient retirement funds for the employees. The use of the I Code principle as a qualifying factor for scoring conforms to what SEC wants institutional investors, including the provident funds, to invest responsibly, considers the benefits of the community, the environment, and have good governance of invested businesses.”

The provident funds that will participate in the contest must have been registered with SEC for at least 3 years and must have been approved by the provident fund committee or the provident fund director to participate in the contest. The contest holds 3 categories which are (1) single fund of state enterprise, (2) single funds of private companies, and (3) pooled fund of asset management companies.

The AOP will appoint an ad-hoc contest committee to oversee the application and the documents, any qualified applicants will be interviewed. The total scores of both rounds will determine the winner and other respective awards. The awards will be announced and granted on 21 February 2019 at the Sofitel Bangkok Sukhumvit hotel.

Any interested person can download the application form and get more details at www.aop.or.th from now until 9 November 2018.

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Note:

The Provident Fund (PVD) is a voluntary mutual fund between the employers and the employees, which consists of a part of the wage of the employees, called “savings”, and another part from the employers, called contribution.