Slamci funds breach P42 B in Oct

MANILA, Philippines - Sun Life Asset Management Co. Inc. (SLAMCI) has accumulated P42.2 billion in assets under management (AUMs) as of Oct. 16 this year, up 47 percent from a year ago and roughly 12 percent higher than the assets earned in the first quarter this year.

“SLAMCI remains to be the second largest asset management company with 19-percent market share among the players in the mutual fund industry. It is also the largest non-bank affiliated firm, manifesting strength of its distribution network,” Valerie N. Pama, SLAMCI president, said.

At the start of October, gross sales were up 232 percent year-on-year.

Of the seven mutual funds it handles, the balanced funds accumulated the largest assets worth a little over P17 billion, followed by the equity funds worth P15.2 billion.

But in terms of growth averages, the equity fund grew by 85 percent while the balanced funds by 43 percent.

Third largest funds was the bond or fixed income funds worth P6.4 billion followed by the dollar advantage fund with assets valued at P1.7 billion.

All funds are under Sun Life Prosperity Funds, including the government securities (GS) fund, the money market and the dollar abundance funds.

The balanced fund accounts for 41 percent of total AUMs, the equity funds has a share of 36 percent, and the bond funds, 15 percent.

The equity funds reported returns of 15.81 percent, if investments were made at the end of 2012. The balanced fund reported returns of 12.99 percent, and the band fund with returns registered at 7.85 percent.

The GS fund reported 4.67-percent returns while the Dollar Advantage registered a 7.55-percent return.

“That is way better than the less than two percent one would earn if their money was placed in a bank’s regular savings account,” the SLAMCI chief executive said.

Currently, SLAMCI has more than 48,000 accounts on record, a significant rise from the 33,000 in 2012.

It has 1,903 mutual fund agents, expecting to exceed 2,000 licensed agents by the end of the year.

Ten major local and foreign banks distribute Sun Life Prosperity Funds, and more are in the pipeline by end 2013.

Pana said that SLAMCI will be launching its mutual funds online next month.

“That will allow existing shareholders to add, transfer or redeem their investments through Sun Link Online. Online is the client portal of Sun Life Financial Philippines,” she added.

SLAMCI is a member of the Sun Life Financial group of companies, a leading international financial services organization providing a diverse range of wealth accumulation and protection products and services to individual and corporate customers.