PETALING JAYA (Sept 3): The Private Pension Administrator Malaysia (PPA) is collaborating with Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) to boost awareness on the importance of retirement planning.

The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) today to work together on a lecture series on financial literacy to students and hold public talks to communities at large.

They also agreed to collaborate on research while PPA will also offer internship opportunities for selected UTAR students.

Set up in 2012, PPA is the central administrator for private retirement schemes (PRS) and is regulated by Securities Commission Malaysia.

It has similar collaborations with other local universities, its chief executive officer Husaini Hussin told a press conference after the MoU signing ceremony.

"Our plan in the MoU is that with UTAR, we can increase students' financial literacy, especially targeting those who are graduating and about to enter their career. This will help them to develop their saving habits," he said.

Husaini stressed the need for young people to start thinking of retirement savings from the moment they start work.

"Depending on savings from the Employees' Provident Fund alone is not enough, so they may need to supplement with a voluntary retirement savings," he said.

He called on youths to take up the PRS Youth Incentive, under which those aged between 20 and 30 who save a total of RM1,000 in PRS would receive a one-off RM1,000 in PRS units from the government.

The one-off incentive is available until the end of this year.

As at July 31, there were 342,730 PRS members with 32.7% of them aged 30 and below.

"With greater awareness we expect to see more enrolment from this age group," Husaini said.