Manulife offers mutual fund-life insurance product

The Philippine unit of Manulife has launched a new variable unit-linked (VUL) fund that allows insurance protection policy-holders to ride on potentially higher yields from the local stock market.

Manulife Philippines rolled out Powerhouse Fund, a variable unit-linked fund designed to invest in a pool of carefully selected Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE)-listed firms with potential to deliver higher returns over time.

“Manulife offers customers a great investment choice with the Powerhouse Fund,” said Ryan Charland, Manulife Philippines president and CEO.

“The fund’s strategy will allow them to maximize returns over time by investing in a winning league of companies with multiple competitive advantages.”

“We select companies through a disciplined investment process supported by extensive research that includes a thorough review of their business model, management strategies and under-appreciated competitive strengths, to determine which companies we will invest in,” said Aira Gaspar, Manulife Philippines chief investment officer.

VUL, a hybrid between a mutual fund and life insurance, is variable as investment returns depend on the market performance of the fund where the premium is invested. The performance of the separate accounts is not guaranteed. In case of adverse market conditions, the value of the policy could be less than the capital investment subject to any specified minimum guarantees.

Investment in the Powerhouse Fund is available through selected Manulife products including Affluence Max Gold, Affluence Gold, Affluence Builder, Affluence Builder Plus, Education Builder and  Horizons.

Since the start of the year, the PSE index has performed better than expected, rising by about 5 percent so far, despite lingering jitters on the policies of US president Donald Trump, the US Federal Reserve’s looming interest rate hikes, Great Britain’s exit from the European Union and China’s economic slowdown.