Sun Life mutual funds grow to P21.46B

GLOBAL insurance giant Sun Life of Canada grew its mutual fund business in the Philippines by a double-digit rate last year despite the turbulent global financial markets.

Sun Life Asset Management Co. Inc. (SLAMC), the mutual fund arm of Sun Life Financial-Philippines, thus ended last year with P21.46 billion in assets under management, 11-percent higher than a year ago. It also reported a 34-percent increase in gross sales to P11.91 billion.

Valeria Pama, SLAMC chief operating officer, said that 2011 was a good year for the company even with the global challenges. “We’ve seen how the country remained resilient and persevering. There was substantial activity in terms of investments and I am happy to note that our funds portfolio grew well,” she said.

SLAMC manages the Sun Life Prosperity Funds, which include five peso-denominated funds and two dollar-denominated funds. These are the Bond Fund, Balanced Fund, Phil Equity Fund, Money Market and GS (Government Securities) Funds; the Dollar Advantage Fund and the Dollar Abundance Fund.

In terms of returns for peso-denominated funds, the bond fund led the pack as of end-2011 with a one-year return of 8.1 percent, followed by the GS Fund with 6.7 percent. For the dollar-denominated funds, Dollar Abundance Fund took the lead with a one-year yield 5.9 percent.

In terms of assets under management, the Sun Life Prosperity Balanced Fund was the biggest as of end-2011 at P8.67 billion, followed by Phil Equity Fund with P5.04 billion.

Mutual funds were invented by financial wizards for people who may not have the time or expertise to create and actively manage an investment portfolio. An investor who buys a share in the mutual fund gets the same percentage of return as one who acquires a bigger share and is widely expected to benefit from diversification and professional portfolio management.

Considering the resilience of the Philippine economy amid the US economic downturn and a European debt crisis and the healthy growth of the funds, Pama said SLAMC would continue to exert efforts to encourage more Filipinos to invest in mutual funds.

One of the major initiatives mapped out for this year is a campaign called “Invest and Fly.”

“This campaign was meant to further educate the Filipinos on the advantages of investing in mutual funds and to adapt a long-term investment horizon,” Pama said.

For every qualified investment of P500,000 or $10,000 in any of the six Sun Life Prosperity  Funds, an investor is rewarded with a free round-trip economy ticket (exclusive of applicable taxes and fees). With the promo, investors get the opportunity to grow their money through an instrument that promises potential higher returns and at the same time experience seeing the world, Pama said. Doris C. Dumlao