KUALA LUMPUR: Amanah Mutual Bhd won the best overall group award at the Edge-Lipper Awards 2015 for the second year in a row yesterday.

Its chief executive officer (CEO) Sheila Halim attributed Amanah’s achievement to the ethical business practices of its shareholders — Permodalan Nasional Bhd and Amanah Saham Nasional — as well as the company’s consumer-centric approach. 

“We go on high return on investment, we’re are very disciplined in profit targets and try not to be momentum-driven. We believe in being consistent in delivering income distribution,” said Sheila. 

“When they (investors) see that year after year, you are delivering that kind of expectation, they will stay with you, and the money will snowball. When you do apply all these variables consistently, the result will be — you get an overall winner,” she said. 

Apart from Amanah, Eastspring Investments Bhd and AmInvestment Management Sdn Bhd (AmInvest) were winners in the equity and mixed assets group categories, respectively. 

AmInvest CEO Datin Maznah Mahbob said competition between fund houses is expected to stiffen in the coming months. Despite the challenging climate, she believed there is an opportunity to deliver consistent returns.

“That is why we have been focusing on our mixed assets funds because it is by managing multi-assets actively that you can actually generate consistent returns,” said Maznah.

Eastspring chief investment officer (CIO) in equities Yvonne Tan agreed that the unit trust industry will be impacted by market volatility. “I foresee more competition but as our funds look at a longer term of three, five and 10-year periods we should be getting consistent returns.” 

Eastspring won 10 individual awards — seven in equities and three in mixed assets — its best performance so far.

On the bigger picture, Lipper’s head of research for Asia-Pacific Xav Feng pointed out that last year, the global fund market suffered a setback with a net outflow of US$827 billion (RM3.04 trillion), compared to 2013 when there was an inflow of US$1.06 trillion. 

The global trend also affected Malaysia, as the fund market saw a net outflow of US$2.6 billion last year. However, fund managers outperformed their peers amid the uncertainties. 

“It will be more important for fund managers to deliver consistency in 2015,” added Feng.

RHB Asset Management Sdn Bhd was the biggest winner in the individual category with a total of 12 awards — six from the mixed assets portfolio and three each in equity and bond funds. 

Its CIO Hoe Cheah How said while the unstable conditions are expected to persist, the fund house is confident its “structured investment process” will ensure consistency in its performance. 

“In addition, we do have a liquidity management plan. So, funds under management will not be negatively affected should there be big redemption,” said Hoe.

Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) executive director of corporate finance investments Eugene Wong, who delivered the keynote address, said the unit trust industry has seen continuous growth in net asset value and the number of unit trust funds over the past 20 years. 

“As at the end of last year, there were 612 unit trust funds with an aggregate net asset value of RM343 billion; wholesale funds had an aggregate net asset value of RM73 billion; [and] there were 128,000 Private Retirement Scheme members with a net asset value of RM716 million,” said Wong, adding that the industry has grown to RM630 billion compared to RM588 billion in 2013. 

The Edge-Lipper Malaysia Fund Awards 2015 is a joint effort between The Edge Communications Sdn Bhd and Thomson Reuters.

The Edge Media Group’s publisher and group CEO Ho Kay Tat said: “The Edge-Lipper Fund Awards are a special event for us. In the late 90s, both The Edge and Lipper felt that there was a need to promote and reward fund measurements to support the development of the fund management industry. 

“16 years on, the need for timely and in-depth information for investors is even more pressing as fund houses now offer a greater variety of funds and more sophisticated products. This is where The Edge comes in, with its stable of publications, both in print and online and in-depth and timely coverage,” he added.

This year, 55 awards were given out in total, including four group awards, 36 awards for conventional funds and 15 awards for Islamic funds. Amongst these, 14 awards were given to funds based on their three-year performance, 14 awards were given to funds based on their five-year performance and eight awards were given to funds based on their 10-year performance, all ended Dec 31, 2014. For the Islamic funds, seven awards were given to funds based on their three-year performance, five awards were given to funds based on their five-year performance and three awards to funds based on their 10-year performance, all ended Dec 31, 2014.

Malaysia is one of the regions covered by Lipper’s programme of 2015 fund awards, which is part of the Thomson Reuters Awards for Excellence.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 10, 2015.