MANILA, Philippines - Sun Life Asset Management Co. Inc. (SLAMCI) has reported a total of P42.84 billion in assets under management (AUMs) at the end of May 2013. That is a 49-percent increase from the P28.7 billion achieved end 2012.
“SLAMCI’s AUM growth at 49 percent is actually higher than the country’s mutual fund industry’s equally outstanding growth rate of 47 percent,†SLAMCI president Valerie Pama said.
Pama said that there was a significant increase in the fund’s customer base. From 33,060 clients in end December, SLAMCI already has 42,847 clients as of end-May 2013, for a robust increase of 29.6 percent.
The industry reported total AUMs of P215.2 billion end May 2013, up 47 percent from the P146.2 billion end 2012.
“The significant AUM growth since December 2012 was a result of a very active investment environment,†Pama added.
Aside from a strong equity or stock market, billions of pesos are migrating away from the terminally special deposit account (SDA), and has been findings a home with mutual funds, unit investment trust funds (UITFs), equities, life insurance, and real estate.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is slowly ending its SDA savings and investment service reportedly by November this year. It is said to be down to P900 billion from a high of almost P2 trillion.
Meanwhile, SLAMCI manages a pool of seven mutual funds, under the generic name Sun Life Prosperity Funds, including the balanced fund, equity fund, bond or fixed income fund, government securities (GS) fund, money market fund, and two dollar-denominated funds.
The balanced fund is the largest in terms of value at P17.5 billion end May this year, which grew by 47 percent from the P11.9 billion end 2012. Balanced funds are a combination of investments in both bond and equity markets.
The equity funds net asset stood at P15.3 billion, a whopping expansion of 86 percent compared to the P8.2 billion last year.
“The shift to more aggressive funds continue. Equity Funds make up 36 percent of our AUM, up from the 29-percent share in end 2012,†the SLAMCI head said.
Pama likewise pointed out that the shift to more aggressive funds was also apparent in the industry, with equity funds accounting for 29 percent of the industry’s AUM compared to the 26-percent share last year.
“However, the industry remains to be a bond fund market,†she added. The net assets of the industry’s bond fund stood at P94 billion.
SLAMCI’s bond funds grew by 23 percent to P6.4 billion from P5.2 billion end 2012.
The Dollar Advantage fund stood at P1.58 billion up 33 percent although the Dollar Abundance fund slipped slightly to P1 billion.
The GS fund remained dormant at P653 million while the Money Market shrunk by 35 percent.