Eastspring Investments Bhd and Manulife Asset Management Services Bhd emerged the big winners at The Edge-Thomson Reuters Lipper Fund Awards 2017. The awards ceremony was held on Feb 27.
Manulife won the Best Overall Group (Provident) award and seven individual awards, while Eastspring took home 17 awards — the biggest haul at this year’s ceremony — including for Best Mixed Asset Group (Provident).
The other group award winners were RHB Asset Management Sdn Bhd, Hong Leong Asset Management Bhd and Kenanga Investors Bhd. They won the awards for Best Bond Group, Best Equity Group and Best Equity Group (Islamic) respectively.
Amanah Mutual Bhd, Pheim Asset Management Sdn Bhd, Libra Invest Bhd, Phillip Capital Sdn Bhd, KAF Investment Fund Bhd, AmFunds Management Bhd (AmInvest), Public Mutual Bhd and Areca Capital Sdn Bhd took home individual awards. This was Phillip Capital’s first win.
A new category — the Malaysia Provident Fund universe — was introduced this year to acknowledge the best-performing Employees Provident Fund-approved funds. This category was added because Thomson Reuters Lipper recognises the EPF as fundamental to the Malaysian retirement structure as well as an important savings scheme, says Asia-Pacific research head Xav Feng.
“For Lipper, we have the pension award universe in other markets as well, such as Japan and Hong Kong. We need to acknowledge these pension funds as they are one of the biggest pillars in people’s lives when it comes to retirement,” he says.
In his keynote address, Securities Commission Malaysia deputy chief executive Datuk Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin said the awards not only encourage fund managers to excel but also to exceed their own performance track records.
He added that as Malaysia is an open economy with an internationally networked capital market, it is not insulated from global headwinds. But despite the challenging market conditions, the fund management industry’s assets under management have seen positive growth.
He also said it was encouraging to see that the unit trust industry continued to expand last year “with a net positive increase — not only in the number of funds launched but also the number of units in circulation and new account openings”.
The SC’s view, for now, is that sales charges or fees should be determined by the market, said Ahmad Fairuz. “However, we also call upon the industry to ensure that the fees are reasonable and disclosed in a transparent manner. We will continue to monitor developments in this regard and respond appropriately should the need arise.”
Ahmad Fairuz said the regulator will continue to focus on accelerating the growth of the fund management industry as well as to consolidate Malaysia’s position as a global hub for Islamic funds, which is driven by initiatives such as the SC’s Islamic Fund and Wealth Management Blueprint.
The regulator will also roll out a digital investment services framework this year while also identifying and mitigating cybersecurity risks, as per its Guidelines on the Management of Cyber Risks, which was issued last October.
According to Thomson Reuters Lipper’s analysis, the global fund market experienced an outflow of US$450 billion last year, mirroring 2015’s outflow of US$450 billion. “The global fund market saw a net inflow of US$164 billion. Bond funds had the biggest net inflow of US$326 billion while equity funds had the biggest outflow of US$200 billion,” says Feng.
The US and Japan saw positive net inflows of US$152 billion and US$39 billion respectively. However, Europe and Asia ex-Japan suffered outflows of more than US$50 billion and US$22 billion respectively, he says. “Bond US dollar medium term and equity global ex-US were the leading sectors last year with positive net inflows, while equity US and equity Euro
suffered a significant net outflow.”
Feng says Malaysian funds saw net outflows of US$100 billion and net inflows of US$490 billion last year. “Funds of all asset types recorded positive net inflows. The money market and equity funds enjoyed the biggest net inflows of more than US$100 billion.”
The sectors that enjoyed the highest net inflows were the Money Market MYR and Equity Malaysia.
A new award universe
This year, the Malaysia Provident Fund universe was introduced at The Edge-Thomson Reuters Lipper Fund Awards. The universe comprises all conventional and Islamic funds listed under the Employees Provident Fund’s Members Investment Scheme.
Xav Feng, Thomson Reuters Lipper head of research for Asia-Pacific, says the methodology used for conventional and Islamic funds is also applied to the Provident Fund universe. “We filter them using Lipper’s global classification. For example, with Equity Group, you need to have at least five funds in the three-year category to be eligible.
“If a fund house has seven funds, but only four of them have more than three years’ track record, it is not eligible. This is the methodology we use for all three fund universes.”
Meanwhile, the criteria for the Conventional Fund universe has been revised. Now, it only comprises conventional funds and does not include Islamic and Provident funds, as it used to. Thus, there are fewer eligible funds for this category as there are not enough eligible groups that can be awarded, according to Feng.
Like in previous years, the awards were given to funds that had the most consistent returns during the respective time frames.
AmInvest most consistent group award winner
Many fund houses have won group awards at The Edge-Thomson Reuters Lipper Fund Awards, but few have repeated their feat over the past 10 years.
AmFunds Management Bhd (AmInvest) has been the most consistent group award winner, having won the Best Bond Group award six times in the last decade. Previously known as AmBank and AmInvestment Services, the fund house has also won the Best Mixed Asset Group award twice and Best Overall Group award once.
Eastspring Investments Bhd and Pacific Mutual Fund Bhd have been three-time winners of the Best Equity Group award, while AmInvest and CIMB-Principal Asset Management Bhd have won the Best Mixed Asset Group award twice.
Public Mutual Bhd has clinched the coveted Best Overall Group award three times, while Amanah Mutual Bhd and CIMB-Principal Asset Management Bhd have won the award twice.
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