Mutual funds hit record P204 B as of April

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s mutual fund industry reached a milestone as total assets under management (AUMs) hit a record P204 billion as of end-April, up 39 percent from P146.2 billion in end-2012.

This as more individual and institutional investors are migrating to the mutual funds from the lower-yielding special deposit accounts (SDAs).

Other recipient alternative investment options are unit investment trust funds (UITFs) and variable unit linked or investment-featured life insurance products.

Total number of accounts likewise reached a record 200,812 individual and institutional investors, approximately 21 percent higher than the 166,097 accounts at end-2012.

There are four basic mutual funds: bond or fixed income fund, equity (stocks) fund, balanced (combination of fixed and equity) fund, and the money market fund.

The largest mutual fund in terms of net asset value (NAV) is the bond fund worth P112.3 billion, up 43.7 percent from P78.1 billion at end-2012.

The bond fund is divided into three currencies: peso, dollar and euro.

Peso-denominated funds amounted to P86.3 billion while dollar-denominated funds reached P16.4 billion. The net asset value of the euro denominated bond funds was placed at P9.6 billion.

The equity funds grew 56 percent, or from P38.2 billion to P59.6 billion as of April this year.