Two AmInvest Funds Sweep Fixed Income Category for Fund Performance
(L - R): Germaine Share, Associate Director, Manager Research, Morningstar, Wong Yew Joe, Head of Fixed Income (Islamic), AmInvest, Goh Wee Peng, Chief Executive Officer, AmInvest, Ong Liang Heng, Executive Director, Chairman’s Office, Securities Commission Malaysia and Raymond Lew, Head of Fixed Income, AmInvest with the two awards for AmInvest’s AmDynamic Bond and AmBon Islam funds at the Morningstar Awards 2019 Malaysia award ceremony held in Kuala Lumpur on 21 March 2019.
Two of AmInvest funds have received top honours for its fund performance at the Morningstar Awards 2019 Malaysia1 (“Morningstar Awards”). The award-winning funds are AmDynamic# Bond and AmBon Islam.
AmInvest made a clean sweep of both awards in the fixed income category. AmDynamic# Bond was named the Best Malaysia Bond Fund, and AmBon Islam received top honours as the Best Malaysia Bond (Syariah) Fund.1
Morningstar recognises “funds that delivered the greatest outperformance, on a risk-adjusted basis, in 2018, and over the long term. The awards methodology emphasises the one-year period, but funds must also have delivered strong three-year returns after adjusting for risk within the awards peer group in order to obtain the award”.
AmDynamic# Bond, the Best Malaysia Bond Fund,1 posted a one-year total return (a measure of the fund’s performance comprising income distribution and capital gains) of around 6.4% as at December 20182.The fund employs an active management investment strategy that seeks to capitalise returns based on market views and timing decisions, as opposed to a buy-and-hold strategy.
Best Malaysia Bond (Syariah) Fund1 winner, AmBon Islam registered a one-year total return of about 4.7% for the same period2. The fund is a medium to long-term sukuk fund with the aim of providing investors with a stream of halal income through investments in sukuk and Islamic money market instruments. This fund is actively managed in line with prevailing market outlook, and generally trades frequently when opportunities arise, to enhance potential returns.
Commenting on the local market outlook moving forward, Goh Wee Peng added, “The optimistic outlook and prospect of Malaysian Ringgit recovery are key positives for Malaysian bonds and sukuk. We believe sectors that would perform relatively better than the market includes financial, consumer (non-discretionary), oil and gas players skewing towards maintenance, exporters, selective technology players and real estate investment trusts.”
These award-winning funds are unit trust funds eligible under the Employees Provident Fund Member’s Investment Scheme (“EPF MIS”). EPF MIS allows EPF members to transfer a portion of their savings from their Account 1 for investments through appointed fund management institutions as an option to enhance their retirement savings.
AmInvest also offers one of the most diverse range of retirement funds in the market comprising 10 AmPRS funds across various asset classes and geographical exposure, in both the conventional and Shariah-compliant spaces3. As at December 2018, AmPRS – Dynamic* Sukuk was the best performing PRS fund in Malaysia over a one-year performance period, clocking in a total return of around 5.1%4.
Notes and Sources:
# The word “Dynamic” in the context refers to the Fund’s investment strategy which is active management, not buy-and-hold strategy.
* The word “Dynamic” in this context refers to the Target Fund’s investment strategy which is active management, not buy-and-hold strategy.
1 Morningstar Awards 2019 Malaysia, March 2019.