Ayala Life Fixed Income Fund portfolio expands 140% in 2002

The Ayala Life Fixed Income Fund managed P13.2 billion in net assets last year, up by over 140 percent from the P5.4 billion managed in 2001.

The P13.2-billion represents a market share of over 50 percent of all bond funds handled by the country’s mutual fund industry.

Fernando Jose Sison III, BPI vice president for retail funds distribution, said they are looking at a more modest growth rate in terms of assets handled this year. Ayala Life Fixed Income Fund is part of the BPI asset management group.

"It will just be a two-digit growth rate or maybe in the vicinity of P5-billion new assets managed," Sison told reporters.

The mutual fund has some 2,700 accounts which include both institutional and individual investors.

The total assets managed by the bond fund market stood at P23.4 billion as of end December 2002 while the total assets managed by the mutual fund industry was recorded at P25.8 billion.

In the bond market, the second biggest fund is the Philam Bond Fund managed by the Philippine American Life and General Insurance (Philamlife) group. At the end of 2002, it was managing assets of P4.9 billion, or the second biggest fund in the mutual fund industry after Ayala Life Fixed Income.

A mutual fund is an investment vehicle that offers and opportunity for small investors to participate in equity and bond market investing. This is achieved by pooling the money of institutional investors and individual investors which are then managed by a fund manager.

Placements with mutual funds range from as low as P2,000 to as high as P10,000 depending mainly on the fund manager.