OSK-UOB to grow total funds

KUALA LUMPUR: OSK-UOB Unit Trust Management Bhd is targeting to grow its total funds under management to about RM5bil by the end of next year from RM3.6bil currently through the launching of various funds.

Chief executive officer Ho Seng Yee said to this end, the company would be launching various funds - local, regional and global, to enlarge its fund size.

"We will be launching five funds by the first half of next year and subsequently another few throughout the year.

"Apart from launching new funds, we will also re-launch some of our existing funds which we feel there is potential for such funds in the market,'' he said after the launching of the company's latest fund, OSK-UOB Big Cap China Enterprise, on Wednesday.

With the new fund, it now has 33 funds under its stable. According to Ho, he expects the fund to potentially bring in annualised returns of between 15% and 18%.

He added the new fund was the first of its kind in the country that focuses on pure China plays and aims to provide investors with long term capital appreciation through investments in securities of companies with high growth potential.

It invests in equities and equity linked securities issued by companies whose businesses are in China and those with a market capitalisation of at least US$1bil, he added.

UOB Asset Management Ltd (UOBAM) of Singapore is the external investment manager for Big Cap China Enterprise

URL: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?f...03&sec=business

Lower unit trust sales charges

PETALING JAYA: Effective next month, sales charges for investment in unit trusts by Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contributors are expected to be slashed to not more than 3% from 5% to 6% now.

A source told StarBiz that the move was expected as the current charges were relatively high compared with other countries, and for the industry to be globally competitive, the upfront sales charges should come down.

This would also reduce the cost of investment and improve returns as the current sales charges were eating into unit trust returns, he said, adding that the move, over time, would lower the overall sales charges in the industry.

Pacific Mutual Fund Bhd chief executive officer and chief investment officer Michael Auyeung said the move was a positive development for the industry.

Lowering sales charges would provide investors a quicker path to garnering returns on their investment, and might encourage many to make regular withdrawals.

"Distributors who earnestly assess what the EPF is trying to do for its contributors will eventually see that this move will benefit everyone," Auyeung said.

From the perspective of unit trust management companies, most players would welcome the lowering of any hurdle that helped change investors' mindsets and allowed them to realise that unit trusts were an extremely viable investment and pension planning instrument, he said.

Furthermore, he said, the excuse that high upfront fees were keeping pensioned investors away had been partly overcome.

Auyeung said when news emerged that EPF investors were losing money in unit trusts, Pacific Mutual conducted an in-depth study of its own investor base. "Total gains made by our investors between 2003 and 2005 were RM41.32mil while losses amounted to RM65,000. Most of the losses were incurred by recent investors who had yet to recover the fees they paid upfront," he noted.

An industry player said: "Those unit trust management companies that rely heavily on agents would in the short term see a negative impact on their businesses.

"This is because the agents' customers mainly comprise EPF contributors. The lowering of sales charges would affect the agents' commissions which, in turn, would affect the companies' businesses in the short term.''

URL: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?f...15&sec=business

OSK-UOB Smart Income Fund

The OSK-UOB Smart Income Fund is an open-ended income fund in the category of bond, SMART aims to provide investors with higher than average income returns compared to fixed deposits over the medium to long term period by investing up to 70% in bond and up to 30% in equity.

This Fund is suitable to investors who are conservative and seek a steady income stream as it has a low to moderate risk tolerance with a medium to long term investment horizon.

URL: http://www.maybank2u.com.my/consumer/inves...k_uob_sif.shtml

EPF caps unit trust service charges at 3%

PETALING JAYA: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has capped service charges at 3% for investments in unit trusts.

EPF chief executive officer Datuk Azlan Zainol said the move would come into effect from Jan 1 next year.

"Members of EPF currently pay up to 6% in service charges. They will pay 50% less in service charges when the move comes into effect.

"Fund management institutes cannot impose service charges beyond that," he said in a statement Wednesday.

He added that service charges by local investment funds currently were relatively higher compared with other countries like Singapore, the United Kingdom, Japan and the United States.

"We decided to cap the service charges in the interest of our members and the fund managers.

"A study commissioned recently by EPF showed that one of the major factors affecting the investment returns for our members is the high service charges imposed by the fund management institutions," he said.

URL: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=...0456&sec=nation

Received this PDF from my friend yesterday titled:

Top 10 Mutual Funds for 2008

I have created a dedicated thread for this new fund.

What kind fund is this? How's the prospect?

UT is unit trust. The term UT and MF are used inter-changeably.

Please promote it at the dedicated thread. Thank you.

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/603888/+20#entry14993646

This post has been edited by David83: Jan 6 2008, 09:01 PM

CIMB-Principal standardises names of unit trust funds

KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB-Principal Asset Management Bhd has standardised the names of the unit trust funds within its stable.

All conventional funds now carry the prefix "CIMB-Principal" while its Islamic funds will carry the prefix "CIMB Islamic".

Previously, some of these funds either carried the prefix "SBB" or did not have prefixes.

Chief executive Datuk Noripah Kamso said in a statement yesterday that the new naming convention ensured consistency and allowed local and regional investors to recognise the group's brand and investment products immediately.

It also creates a distinct brand for CIMB's syariah-compliant funds.

The renaming exercise also applies to funds of its subsidiary CIMB Wealth Advisors Bhd that are being managed by CIMB-Principal

URL: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?f...34&sec=business

MAAKL Mutual launches new fund
KUALA LUMPUR: MAAKL Mutual Bhd has launched a regional fund called MAAKL Shariah Asia-Pacific Fund.

MAAKL said in a statement the new fund would focus on markets such as China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Australia.

Chief executive officer and executive director Wong Boon Choy said the new fund was designed to invest up to a maximum of 98% of its net asset value in Asia-Pacific syariah-compliant equities and equity-related securities.

"Additionally, the fund will invest in a diversified portfolio of syariah-compliant equities and equity-related instruments, as well in Islamic money market instrument with emphasis on high growth potential and/or undervalued stocks relative to the assessed true value," he said in the statement.

The fund is suitable for investors seeking to invest in a diversified portfolio of stocks listed in the Asia-Pacific region that conform with syariah principles, those seeking a medium- to long-term investment horizon between three and five years, and investors willing to accept a moderate to high level of risk.

The fund aims to provide long-term capital appreciation. Fund manager Meridian Asset Management Sdn Bhd will continuously adopt an active strategy in meeting the investment objectives.

The approved fund size is 600 million units, which will be priced at 25 sen each during the initial offer period from Jan 16 to Feb 5. The minimum initial investment is RM1,000, while the minimum additional investment is RM100.

URL: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?f...55&sec=business

Public Bank, ING offer joint plan

KUALA LUMPUR: Public Bank Bhd and ING Insurance Bhd have unveiled the PB-ING Baraka Commodities Plan to provide their customers with a wide range of investment opportunities.

The product, jointly developed by the two financial brands, is a powerful capital guaranteed investment-linked plan that aims to provide maximum capital growth and potential high performance bonus within three years.

The PB-ING Baraka Commodities Plan is invested in the Top 30 high-performing global stocks in basic materials and oil and gas sectors selected from the Dow Jones Islamic Markets World Index Universe.

These stocks were actively managed and rebalanced each quarter to maximise performance potential, said Public Bank and ING in a joint statement.

Available at Public Bank branches nationwide, the product is a single premium plan with a minimum premium amount of RM30,000. It will be opened for subscription for eight weeks till March 18. - Bernama

URL: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?f...79&sec=business

To buy a new fund, you must have an agent (agent code). Once you have an agent, you can buy other new funds by submitting an application form (buying form) to Public Bank.

If you have the fund account number, you can topup using PBebank Internet Banking.

The service charge is cheaper during promotional period. After that regardless of what topup method, the service charge is fixed at 5.5% for equity/balanced fund.

This is amazing. I could choose to top up my PAIF. 5% versus 5.5%. Cheaper by 0.5%.

By the way, why there's no official announment regarding this in the PM website?

I don't even know this if kingkong81 doesn't post it in here.

This post has been edited by David83: Jan 31 2008, 10:53 AM

Seems like my agent slipped this kind of information again.

Amanah Saham Sarawak announces 6sen dividend

KUCHING: Amanah Saham Sarawak Bhd (Assar) has announced a 6sen dividend per unit for its unit trust holders. It will involve a total cash payout of RM30.8mil.

Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said Thursday the dividends would be paid in two stages, the second 3sen per unit by June 30 to coincide with Assar's 15th anniversary.

Last year's net income distribution was 5sen per unit.

He said Assar had distributed more than RM508mil to its unit holders over the years.

URL: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?f...14&sec=business

The website has been update. The information is now available from the website:

http://www.publicmutual.com.my/page.aspx?name=kliff_01_index

If you don't have any funds with PM, you need to get yourself an agent first by buying at least one new fund.

PBbeank is another mean of topping up your investment provided that you have a fund account number. It's not meant for buying new funds.

How I wish if my agent could be more responsive like you two.