This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on March 27, 2018
KUALA LUMPUR: Public Mutual Bhd emerged the biggest winner at The Edge-Thomson Reuters Lipper Fund Awards 2018 yesterday, winning the Best Overall Group (Provident), as well as 13 individual awards.
“The best overall group award is given to the fund house with the most consistent return. This is why we are very happy to win the award. I am very proud of my hardworking team,” said Public Mutual chief executive officer (CEO) Yeoh Kim Hong.
Other group award winners were Hong Leong Asset Management Bhd and Affin Hwang Asset Management Bhd, which won Best Equity Group and Best Mixed Asset Group (Provident) respectively. RHB Asset Management Sdn Bhd won the Best Bond Group (Provident) award, while Kenanga Investors Bhd won the award for Best Equity Group (Islamic).
Affin Hwang head of equity strategies and advisory Gan Eng Peng said the event is a great recognition for the hard work industry participants have put in through the years, as it looks at returns stretching back to a decade.
To better serve the evolving demands of investors, Gan said the company is working on filters for responsible investing and has implemented measures to improve corporate governance.
“To future-proof the business, we have created a new department with the hiring of a chief fintech officer to make sure our processes and strategies are future-proof,” Gan said.
Continuing its record from last year, Eastspring Investments Bhd emerged the biggest individual awards winner again this year with 14 awards. Seven were in equity funds, six were in mixed asset funds, and one was in a bond fund.
“[Winning these awards is] great, because we’ve proven to be very consistent and provide value for all our investors,” said Eastspring Investments CEO Raymond Tang.
PMB Investment Bhd bagged four wins this year after missing out on the awards last year. Its CEO Najmi Mohamed attributed the success to their work ethics.
“We are very happy that our proven methodology, discipline, and perseverance have led us to our win this year. I believe if we keep this up, even amid the volatile market expected this year, God willing, we will be able to match, if not better, our performance to win next year,” he said.
As at the end of last year, the Malaysian fund management industry stood at RM776.2 billion, according to Eugene Wong, managing director of corporate finance and investments at the Securities Commission Malaysia. The unit trust industry represented RM427 billion of that amount, growing from RM358.5 billion the year before.
“It’s important to note that RM45.2 billion of that growth was contributed by net sales that came in at the highest in the last 10 years. Unit trusts remain an important avenue for investors in Malaysia to preserve and create wealth,” Wong said.
Some major trends he observes that will change the fund management industry are the growing demand for sustainable and responsible investment options from millennials, the role of technology in financial services, as well as demographic trends. This includes catering for an ageing society and for more women investors.
“Some of these trends may not be game-changing for the industry immediately but I think that in the long term, they will be what determines the success of the industry,” Wong said.
Thomson Reuters Lipper’s head of research for Asia-Pacific Xav Feng said US$1.5 trillion of net inflow was tracked in 2017, marking a five-year high and a growth of almost 10 times compared with 2016.
A similar trend was observed in Malaysia, where almost US$10 billion of net inflow was posted in 2017. The number almost doubled compared with 2016.
The Edge Media Group publisher and group CEO Ho Kay Tat said uncertainties surrounding the upcoming general elections and ongoing trade war concerns will affect the market in the coming year. Nevertheless, investment experts are confident that many investing opportunities remain.
“As central banks prepare for more interest rate hikes this year, investors will need to better strategise and prepare themselves for this new environment. In this regard, the collaboration between The Edge and Thomson Reuters Lipper has presented a useful and much-followed benchmark to investors,” Ho said.
Also present at the event were Federation of Investment Managers Malaysia CEO Datuk Norazharuddin Abu Talib and the Employees Provident Fund head and senior general manager (quantitative and performance analysis department) Badrul Hisham Dahalan, who was one of the award presenters.
This year, a total of 78 individual and group awards were given. Of these, there were 23 awards for conventional funds, 37 awards for provident funds, and 18 awards for Islamic funds.
