Mutual fund assets hit P207 B in 2013

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s mutual fund industry reached another record level in 2013 as assets under management (AUM) worth P206.9 billion was 41.5 percent better than the P146.2 billion recorded in 2012.

It is the second consecutive time that assets grew at over 41 percent. The 2012 level was 41.1 percent higher than the P103.6 billion recorded in 2011.

Based on data released by the Philippine Investment Funds Association (PIFA), the trade organization of the country’s mutual fund industry, the total number of accounts likewise ballooned by 41.4 percent to 234,854 individual and institutional accounts from 166,097 in 2012.

There are four basic mutual fund categories: the bond or fixed income fund, the equity fund, the balanced fund, and the money market fund.

Largest assets were recorded with the bond funds amounting to P106 billion followed by equity funds with P63.9 billion.

Balanced funds reached P33.8 billion while money market funds amounted to P3 billion.

There are a total of 43 mutual funds managed by nine fund managers.

The nine fund managers are: BPI Investment Management Inc. (BIMI) connected with the Bank of the Philippine Island (BPI); Sun Life Asset Management Co. (SLAMC) connect with Sun Life Financial; Philam Asset Management Inc. (PAMI) with the Philippine American Life and General Insurance co. (Philam Life); First Metro Asset Management Inc. (FAMI) of the Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank) Group; Philequity Management Inc. (PEMI); ATR KimEng Asset Management of the ATR Maybank Group; Cocolife Asset Management Inc. (CAMI) of the United Coconut Planters Life Assurance Corp. (Cocolife); Grepalife Asset Management Inc. (GAMI) of the Yuchengco Group; and MAA MutuaLife Philippines (MAA).

BIMI manages eight funds with combined assets worth over P97.4 billion or nearly 47-percent market share.

SLAMC oversees seven funds worth roughly P41.1 billion, or a market share of nearly 20 percent of total industry. PAMI manages nine mutual fund with assets worth over P32.2 billion, roughly 16-percent market share.

FAMI takes care of assets of four funds worth P13.3 billion, 6.43 percent of market, while ATR KimEng Asset manages P10.5 billion in assets of seven funds, or a little over five percent market.

PEMI funds account for 4.17-percent market share worth P8.6 billion, while CAMI funds are worth P2.2 billion.

GAMC oversees assets worth P1.5 billion and MAA accounts for the balance.

Single biggest fund is the ALFM Peso Bond Fund amounting to over P70 billion, and single biggest US-dollar denominated bond fund is the ALFM Dollar Bond Fund worth P9.6 billion.

Likewise, the ALFM Money Market Fund is the biggest with assets worth P2.5 billion.

All three are BIMI managed funds.

Largest equity fund is the Sun Life Philippine Equity Fund with assets worth P14.6 billion, and largest balanced fund is the Sun Life Prosperity Balanced Fund worth 16.2 billion. Both funds are managed by SLAMC.

A mutual fund is a registered company, which is basically a pool of funds from many individual and institutional investors, and managed by professional licensed fund managers.

Each fund is invested in stocks or equities, bonds or fixed income, balanced (a mix of equities and fixed income), and short-term money market instruments. These are generally peso-denominated although a few are US dollar or euro denominated.

It is marked-to-market or its rate of growth depends in the performance of the funds against prevailing interest rates and stock market movements. It does not “promise double-your-money.”

Majority of the fund managers of mutual funds have electronic platforms that allow daily monitoring of the performance of the funds.