This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on April 17, 2020
It was another momentous year for Public Mutual Bhd at the Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards 2020. On top of two group awards, which it won for Best Equity Group and Best Mixed Assets Group, it also took home 32 fund awards. In doing so, it repeated its feat of winning the most number of awards for the second year running.
Its CEO Yeoh Kim Hong said the fund house is honoured to be conferred the awards. “This record-breaking feat is a testament that the company’s prudent investment philosophy, concentrating on strong fundamentals and resilient earnings has proven to be the best recipe for our success. We thank our unit holders and unit trust consultants for their trust and support in us,” said Yeoh.
Kenanga Investors Bhd was also a big winner at the awards, having bagged two group awards. The fund house clinched the Best Equity Group (Islamic) award and Best Mixed Assets (Provident) award, as well as three fund awards.
“It is indeed an honour to be acknowledged by Refinitiv and Lipper once again, amongst other impressive award recipients. I would attribute [the win] to our capable and dynamic investment team that have worked tirelessly to uphold the firm’s philosophy,” said its CEO and executive director Ismitz Matthew De Alwis.
Other group award winners were Hong Leong Asset Management Bhd and AmFunds Management Bhd (AmInvest). Hong Leong won the Best Equity Group (Provident) award and nine fund awards, while AmInvest won the Best Bond Group (Provident) award and three fund awards.
This year’s awards saw AmanahRaya Investment Management Sdn Bhd clinching its maiden win, bagging a fund award in the Bond MYR (Islamic) 3-year category. CEO and managing director Roszali Ramlee said the fund house is very proud of this achievement, attributing the win to the team’s collective work.
“I believe there will be more to come as all our bond funds are currently ranked at the top tier in their respective categories. What is most important is that we continue to deliver good returns to our investors,” said Roszali.
Executive chairman of the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) Datuk Syed Zaid Albar congratulated all the winners, adding that the fund management industry continues to be a key pillar in providing savings intermediation and market liquidity within the Malaysian capital markets.
“In these challenging times, we recognise that investor confidence and sentiment is paramount. At this critical juncture, all market stakeholders, including regulators and industry players, have a role to play in preserving trust and confidence.
“We expect fund management companies to be well-prepared and have effective internal control measures across their operations. They should have a robust liquidity risk management framework to ensure sufficient liquidity to meet redemption needs in an orderly manner and ensure fair treatment of all investors,” said Syed Zaid.
Presenting global key statistics, director of Lipper Asia-Pacific Research at Refinitiv Xav Feng said there was a total net inflow of US$1,354 billion for global fund markets in 2019, compared to 2018’s at US$532 billion. All assets posted net inflows for 2019, except equity funds which posted net outflows of US$186 billion.
“Among all key different regions and markets, the US continued to post the largest net inflows of US$829 billion. Europe, Asia ex-Japan and Japan also posted net inflows of US$160 billion, US$105 billion and US$38 billion respectively in 2019,” he added.
The leading sectors in terms of net inflows were Money Market USD, Bond USD Medium Term, Bond Global USD and Bond USD. Equity US, Loan Participation Funds, Equity US Sm&Mid Cap and Equity Europe saw the highest net outflows.
Meanwhile, Malaysia gained the aggregate total net inflow of US$7.2 billion for 2019, compared to 2018’s at US$5.3 billion. Feng explained that among all asset types, bond funds experienced the highest net inflows of US$3.25 billion while equity funds posted net inflows of US$282 million.
In Malaysia, the sectors that enjoyed the highest net inflows were Money Market MYR, Bond MYR, Mixed Asset MYR Flexible and Mixed Asset MYR Bal — Global. Equity Greater China and Equity Malaysia Diversified suffered the largest net outflows.
This year, a total of 84 awards were given, encompassing six group awards, 25 awards for conventional funds, 32 awards for provident funds and 21 awards for Islamic funds. Similar to last year, there was no Overall Group Award winner announced. To be eligible for the award, the groups will need to have at least three equity, three bond and three mixed-asset eligible funds.
This year also marks the first time in 21 years that the awards ceremony could not be held, said The Edge Media Group publisher and group chief executive officer Datuk Ho Kay Tat. “While we are disappointed that we are not able to catch up with fund managers and industry stakeholders this year, the safety and well-being of everyone is paramount to us.
“Nevertheless, we still want to celebrate the achievements of the award winners. That is why the Personal Wealth team at The Edge Malaysia has decided to continue publishing its annual coverage of the Lipper Fund Awards to recognise their success,” said Ho.
An in-depth coverage of the awards will be available in the April 20 issue of The Edge Weekly.