KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB-Principal Asset Management Bhd registered a 7.6% year-on-year increase in assets under management to RM67.6 billion in 2016 despite a challenging economic environment.

Its private retirement scheme (PRS) segment rose by a significant 27% to RM343 million, said the company which is jointly owned by CIMB and New York-listed The Principal Financial Services Inc, a Fortune 500 company.

CIMB-Principal chief executive officer Munirah Khairuddin said the increase reflects customer confidence in its calculated and diversified asset allocation strategy in the right markets, backed by its global experience, market insights and technical expertise.

The track record showed the company’s resilience and the company is confident of continued growth in 2017 with a focus on its long-term plan to strengthen the value proposition for customers, she said in a statement.

Munirah said the asset manager expects to see a good performance for its funds in 2017 with expected earnings of around 10%.

“While we foresee continued volatility and uncertainty in global financial markets, growth dynamics in the Asia-Pacific region will continue to improve, and 2017 earnings are expected to be around 10%, which is a significant turnaround from negative growth in the past few years,” she said.

CIMB-Principal also announced a gross distribution of RM51 million for 17 of its funds for 2016. The funds include CIMB Islamic Balanced Growth Fund, CIMB-Principal Income Plus Balanced Fund, CIMB-Principal Strategic Bond Fund, CIMB-Principal Bond Fund, CIMB-Principal Balanced Fund and CIMB Islamic Equity Aggressive Fund.

Meanwhile, CIMB-Principal’s regional funds, CIMB Islamic Asia Pacific Equity Fund and CIMB-Principal Asian Equity Fund, won the Best Equity Asia Pacific ex-Japan, Five Years Performance award from The Edge-Thomson Reuters Lipper Malaysia Fund Awards 2017.

CIMB-Principal Global Titans Fund won the Best Equity Global Performance award at The Edge-Thomson Reuters Lipper Malaysia Fund Awards 2017 for the third time.

CIMB-Principal Global Titans Fund is an equity fund that invests in big-cap companies in the US, Europe and Japan, with a medium- to long-term growth outlook.

Since its inception in 2005, the fund has delivered a cumulative annual total return of 65.95% as at the financial year ended March 31, 2016.

To date, CIMB-Principal has 63 unit trust funds, 19 wholesale funds, 10 PRS funds and two exchange-traded funds.