Pru Life launches new dollar fund

MANILA, Philippines - Pru Life UK has launched PruLink Cash Flow Fund (PCFF), a US dollar-denominated payout-based fund, that provides regular quarterly payouts of up to four-percent annually.

PCFF seeks to provide investors with regular payouts by investing in a diversified portfolio of assets managed by Singapore-based investment arm Eastspring Investments (Singapore) Limited.

Structured as a feeder fund, PCFF invests mainly in the sub-funds of the Luxembourg-domiciled Eastspring Investments funds, US high-yield bond fund, World Value Equity Fund, North American Value Fund, Asian Equity Income Fund and the Asian Bond Fund.

Pru Life UK president and chief executive officer Antonio Manuel De Rosas said that the PCFF provides access to diverse credit and equities markets that provide a potentially less risky portfolio compared to a 100-percent equity fund in the current uncertain macro climate.

“Also, because of its diversified investment allocation, the PCFF potentially offers a better risk-reward profile compared to other funds, which focus on a single market or asset class,” De Rosas said in a press statement.

By accepting more risk, investors could possibly enhance their returns as the PCFF potentially provides higher payouts than bank time deposit instruments, with current dollar investments available locally giving less than one percent annual yield compared to the PCFF’s maximum payout rate of four-percent yearly.

The PCFF is initially available to those availing of US dollar-denominated PruMillionaire policies, Pru Life UK’s elite single-pay investment-linked product.

It is also initially available for fund switching for existing PruMillionaire Dollar policies.

Unit-linked or investment-linked policies are two-in-one protection and investment products, which Pru Life UK pioneered in the Philippines in 2002.

Pru Life UK’s PruLink fund portfolio is managed by sister company Eastspring Investments (Singapore) Limited, part of Eastspring Investments, the asset management arm of British financial services company Prudential plc in Asia.

Eastspring Singapore has been managing the underlying funds of Pru Life UK’s unit-linked or investment-linked life insurance since these products were pioneered in the Philippines in 2002.

In 2014, Eastspring Investments was ranked as the largest retail asset manager in Asia Asset Management’s annual survey of retail fund managers in Asia for the third straight year.

Eastspring was likewise recognized as the Best Asset Management Company of the Year in Southeast Asia by The Asset Triple A Investor and Fund Management Awards 2013.