Manulife launches new products

MANILA, Philippines - Manulife Philippines has introduced two new funds, which allows clients enjoy the investment return potential of investing in both equity and fixed income instruments.

The Peso Balanced Fund and the Peso Dynamic Allocation Fund are the latest additions to Manulife Philippines’ line of variable unit-linked funds (VUL). VULs are life insurance products laced with invesment instruments.

Manulife Philippines president and chief executive officer Indren Naidoo said that the funds seek to achieve long-term capital growth through investments in diversified portfolios of peso-denominated fixed income securities, securities listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), or pooled funds that invest in these securities and other liquid fixed income instruments. 

The funds are designed with the ability to shift asset allocation between fixed income and equity investments.

Manulife’s investment team will determine allocation levels at any point in time depending on which asset class provides better growth potential amid prevailing market conditions.

One constraint is that allocation to either asset class cannot exceed 70 percent of the total.

The Manulife Philippines investment team is an integral part of its pan-Asian investment team, which comprises more than 125 on-the-ground investment professionals working in 10 markets across the region. 

“These funds cater to investors with a moderate risk profile who are willing  and able to assume the blended benefits and risks of investing in Philippine fixed income and equities. The funds are expected to have higher long-term potential return than a pure fixed income portfolio, with lower potential volatility than a pure equities strategy,” Naidoo added.

The Peso Balanced Fund is available through the Manulife Peso Affluence, Peso Affluence Gold and Peso Affluence Builder series.

The Peso Dynamic Allocation Fund, on the other hand, is available under the Manulife Peso Affluence Max/Peso Affluence Max Gold and Peso Affluence Builder Protect variants and the Peso Affluence Builder Gold and Peso Affluence Builder Achieve variants. 

Manulife Philippines is a wholly-owned domestic subsidiary of Manulife Financial Corp., among the world’s largest life insurance companies by market capitalization.