KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 27): The Principal Asset Management Bhd group of companies said today it reported RM92.6 billion in assets under management (AUM) as of December 2020, up 5.1% from RM88.1 billion in 2019.

The Principal Asset Management group comprises Principal Asset Management Bhd and Principal Islamic Asset Management Sdn Bhd in Malaysia, PT Principal Asset Management in Indonesia, Principal Asset Management Company Ltd in Thailand and Principal Asset Management Pte Ltd in Singapore.

In Malaysia, Principal Asset Management (Principal Malaysia) has a total of 79 funds including both conventional and Islamic funds, two Exchange Traded funds and 10 Private Retirement Scheme (PRS) funds as of December 2020. Its PRS membership grew to over 100,000 since its inception in 2012.

“Throughout 2020, we remained committed to helping our customers manage their fund portfolio. Our total dividend distribution for conventional and Shariah-compliant unit trust funds was RM844.27 million,” said Principal Malaysia chief executive officer (CEO) Munirah Khairuddin.

She added “As we look at 2021 from investor’s perspective, we recommend equities over fixed income. We remain positive on Asian equities favouring China and more developed Asian economies on a 12-month basis. We added more ASEAN funds in anticipation of a broader economic recovery which would be strengthened by the greater availability of Covid-19 vaccines by mid-2021.”

Principal Asset Management ASEAN CEO Juan Eyzaguirre said, “In 2020, our primary focus was helping our customers navigate through the challenging times, as well as maintaining their confidence and trust in our capability to manage their investments. We are thankful for the faith they placed in us, which led to a healthy growth in our assets under management, from RM88.1 billion in 2019 to RM92.6 billion in 2020.”

He added, “We will continue to put our customers at the center of everything we do, to meet their changing needs and expectations. Connecting to our customers digitally is key to every market we serve.”

Principal Asset Management is a joint venture between Principal Financial Group® and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd.