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Sun Life Asset Management Co. Inc. (SLAMC), the mutual funds unit of Sun Life Financial-Philippines, has generated over P15 billion in total assets under management (AUM) mid-May this year. 

“This is 87 percent higher than last year’s AUM for the comparable period. Given the low prevailing interest rates, investing in mutual funds has been gaining acceptance,” Henry Joseph Herrera, Sun Life Financial Philippines president and chief executive officer, said.

As of May 15, the total AUMs of Prosperity Funds combined reached P15.2 billion, versus the P8.1 billion end April.

Sales in April alone reached P4.1 billion, three times better than P1.3 billion in the same month in 2006.

Herrera attributed the strong growth to SLAMC’s prudent management of its fund assets and strict adherence to the company’s commitment to its investors.

“While the returns of the Sun Life Prosperity Funds are very attractive, we approach investing prudently. We try our best to strike a balance between safety, liquidity and yield. I am happy to note that this balanced approach has been well-received by our investors,” the chief executive stressed.

The  impressive year-to-date sales was also attributed to the company’s agency force and other highly-effective distribution channels. SLAMC manages 2,700 agents of which 466 are full-time mutual fund advisors.

It also relies in alliances with domestic and foreign commecial banks as alternative marketing areas.

Sun Life offers seven Prosperity funds namely bond fund, balanced fund, Philippine equity fund, money market, and government securities funds, and two US dollar-denominated funds - - Dollar Advantage and Dollar Abundance.

Investors need only an initial investment of P10,000 to participate in mutual funds. Mutual funds are good investment alternatives aside from bank deposits and investment instruments like the unit investment trust fund (UITF).

Mutual funds are pooled investments of the investing individual or institution managed by a fund manager, as differentiated from the UITFs which are managed by banks.       — Ted Torres