Pami mutual funds register its highest net returns

The Philam Asset Management Inc. (Pami) has experienced its highest net returns for the mutual funds it managed last year.

The asset management arm of the Philippine American Life and General Insurance Co. (Philamlife) also recorded its biggest number of accounts last year reaching 57,787.

That is equivalent to roughly 70 percent of the entire 85,113 for the entire industry in that period.

Net asset base in the same period closed at P20.6 billion. The total asset base of the country’s mutual fund industry closed at P68.6 billion in end 2005.

Pami is the asset manager of five mutual funds namely the Philam Bond Fund (PBF), the Philam Fund (PFI), the Philam Strategic Growth Fund (PSGF), GSIS Kinabukasan or Mutual Fund, and the Philam Dollar Bond Fund (PDBF).

Meanwhile, Pami chief executive Joey Ramos said the PSF outperformed the Philippine Stock Exchange Index (Phisix) while registering one of its highest net returns of 15.19 percent.

The PBF registered net returns of 12.8 percent from 8.03 in 2004, while the PFI grew by 14 percent. The GSIS Fund grew 13.55 percent.

The PDBF’s net return reached 8.34 percent, the highest ever registered by the fund. In 2004, it grew 4.84 percent, 5.84 percent in 2003, 6.77 percent in 2002, and 1.63 percent in its infant year.

Ramos admitted that three more mutual funds will be introduced this year to offer more growth options to individual and institutional investors.

Already, the fund manager will be launching the Philippine Managed Income Fund within the first quarter subject to approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The new fund is "conservative", utilizing purely government securities (GS) for its investment vehicle, and it will have a regular cash flow facility as among its unique feature.

"The new mutual fund has a starting fund of P25 million. Initial investment will be P5,000 and P2,000 minimum for additional inputs," Ramos said.

There are 33 mutual funds managed by some 14 fund managers. The fund managers are either subsidiaries of financial institutions like commercial banks, life insurance companies, pre-need companies, or investment firms.

The basic type of mutual funds are bond funds, equity funds, balanced funds, dollar bond funds, money market funds, and euro bond funds. – Ted Torres