CIMB-Principal biggest winner at The Edge-Lipper awards

KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB-Principal Asset Management Bhd won the Best Overall Fund Group award at The Edge-Lipper Malaysia Fund Awards 2012 held here yesterday. It also bagged six other awards to become the biggest overall winner at the event this year.

The fund house’s winning funds were CIMB-Principal Equity, CIMB Islamic Balanced Growth, CIMB Islamic Equity and CIMB Islamic Balanced, which picked up awards in their respective categories for various time frames.

“We are proud to be accorded this award that recognises as well as validates our funds’ consistent performance. We at CIMB-Principal are focused on harnessing top-billing performance to provide utmost value to our investors, supported by good portfolio risk management practices and continuous diligent risk oversight by our investment committee,” said CIMB-Principal CEO Campbell Tupling at the awards ceremony.

“In line with our vision to be Asean’s most valued investment manager offering total asset management solutions, we will continue to develop products and expertise as a regional house, strengthening our retail and institutional business growth not just in our four core markets, but across the region.”

Winning Edge...The Edge Communications Sdn Bhd managing director Tan Boon Kean (sixth from the left) and Alexander Looijen, business manager for Asia Pacific ex Japan -Lipper at Thomson Reuters (seventh from the left) with winners of The Edge-Lipper Fund Award in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.


In the individual categories, Public Mutual Bhd — a unit of Public Bank Bhd — was also a big winner, picking up eight awards. AmInvestment Services Bhd won the award for Best Bond Fund Group again this year, while Pacific Mutual Fund Bhd won the award for Best Equity Fund Group for the second year running. MAAKL Mutual Bhd won the award for Best Mixed Assets Fund Group.

Koh Huat Soon, chief investment officer of Pacific Mutual Fund, said the award gives the fund a little more visibility although the performance of the funds would speak for themselves, as what matters most to investors is the company’s ability to deliver decent returns.

“This year, we will do the same in term of intensity, and aim to continue the streak of success as this is the third year that the company has managed to win the award for best fund house. We will continue the strategy as it seems to be a proven formula to provide a good performance every year,” said Koh after the awards ceremony.

In his address, The Edge Communications Sdn Bhd managing director Tan
CIMB Investment Bank CEO Datuk Charon Wardini Mokhzani (centre) with the Best Overall Fund Group Award which was presented to him by Tan (left) and Alexander Looijen, business manager for Asia Pacifcic ex Japan -Lipper at Thomson Reuters.


Boon Kean noted that it was interesting to observe how the winners performed given the volatility in the financial markets last year.

“At the start of 2011 many of us thought the worse of the financial crisis was over. And by then, the man and woman in the street had discovered a new acronym called QE1 — followed soon by QE2. Quantitative easing is a financial drug to temporarily ease the problems, but can become addictive. Given last year’s volatility, it will be interesting to see who are and how last year’s fund winners performed,” he said.

The Edge-Lipper Malaysia Fund Awards are held annually to recognise top-performing unit trust funds in the country. The event marked the 13th year the awards have been held.

Only funds that have done well for three years or more are recognised, and winners are determined based on the Lipper Leader ratings for Consistent Return, a risk-adjusted investment performance return measure developed by Lipper, a Thomson Reuters company.

For the full analysis of the results, look out for a special pullout in The Edge this weekend.