Sun Life lowers minimum mutual fund investment to P1,000

The Philippine mutual fund management arm of Sun Life of Canada has lowered its minimum investment requirement for peso-denominated mutual funds to P1,000 from P5,000, aiming to reach out to a broader market.

The reduction in the minimum investment to make mutual funds more affordable for start-up investors was announced by Sun Life Asset Management Co. Inc. (SLAMCI) president Valerie Pama in a recent briefing.

“You can now get started and open a Sun Life Prosperity peso mutual fund account for as low as P1,000,” Pama said.

All of the company’s mutual funds investing in peso-dominated assets – whether government securities, equities or money market – will adopt this reduced investment requirement.

She added that SLAMCI had likewise rolled out new investment forms as part of the company’s program to ease doing business, by making the process of investing “more client-friendly.”

To date, SLAMCI has about P63 billion in assets under management (AUM), down from last year’s over P80-billion AUM, as sluggish financial markets have reduced the valuation of AUM.

However, Pama noted that despite the sharp decline in the stock market this year, SLAMCI’s Philippine stock index fund had increased its AUM by about 26 percent to P9 billion mostly due to new investment inflows.

She noted that investors were now learning to put in more money when valuations were low.

Earlier this year, SLAMCI was named as the “best asset management company” in the Philippines for 2018 by Euromoney through the magazine’s annual Private Banking and Wealth Management Survey.  /kga