Sun Life registers record P20 B in AUMs

MANILA, Philippines - The Sun Life Asset Management Co. Inc. (SLAMC) has recorded corporate history by reaching the P20-billion level in assets under management (AUM) of its mutual funds as of April. SLAMC is the fund manager of the Sun Life Financial, one of the country’s leading insurance and financial institution in the country.

In fact, it was reportedly at the P20.3-billion level as of April 6. It stood at P19.37 billion end 2010.

“As early as October 2010, SLAMC breached all previous highs, which was recorded in 2007,” Ben Thomas Panares, SLAMC chief operating officer, said.

But Panares said that beyond the record levels, it is the way the funds have performed.

“If one invested in our equity fund last year, their money would have grown by roughly 33.5 percent today,” the fund manager said, adding that it was better than the two to three percent earnings if the money was placed in the special deposit accounts (SDA).

SLAMC manages seven mutual funds under the generic name Sun Life Prosperity Funds. These are funds invested in the equities or stock market, bond or fixed income market, balanced market (mixed investment in the bond and equity funds), money market funds, government securities (GS) funds, US dollar advantage fund (balanced fund in foreign equity market), and US dollar abundance funs (foreign bond market).

The balanced fund grew by 25.47 percent as of April this year compared to the same period in 2010.

In the same period, the bond fund brew by 7.14 percent, the GS fund by 7.72 percent, the money market fund by 0.56 percent, the dollar balanced fund by 4.53 percent, and the dollar bond fund by 4.76 percent.

In terms of absolute or real amounts end March 2011, the balanced fund reached P8.6 billion; equity fund was valued at P5 billion; bond fund was worth P3.4 billion; GS Fund, P778 million; Money Market Fund, P551 million; Dollar Advantage Fund (balanced), P1.08 billion equivalent; and, Dollar Abundance Fund (bond), P511 million equivalent.

SLAMC consistently ranked among the top three performers in the country’s mutual fund industry.

Last year, the country’s mutual fund industry managed AUMs worth P95.7 billion, or 8.75 percent higher than the previous record level of P88 billion recorded in June 2007. However, 2007 ended with total AUMs of P86.2 billion.

Total assets grew by 39.3 percent if compared to the P68.7 billion recorded in 2009.

The robust economic conditions can also be seen in the double-digit expansion of the number of accounts (investors) from 2009 to 2010. From 93,400 accounts in 2009, it ballooned by 14 percent to 106,300.

There are 46 mutual funds in the industry, nurtured by a dozen fund managers, such as SLAMC.