(From left) Anupam Kishore, LSEG's head of sales of the Asia Pacific region in charge of low latency and analytics solutions, Xav Feng, director of LSEG Lipper Asia Pacific Research, Gan Kong Yik, senior director and head of equities at Manulife Investment Management (M) Bhd, Choo Swee Kee, chief investment officer (CIO) and executive director of TA Investment Management Bhd, Tan Sri Dr Tay Ah Lek, managing director of Public Bank Bhd and chairman of Public Mutual Bhd, Chiang Kang Pey, chief executive officer of Public Mutual, Ng Jit Seng, chief operating officer of Principal Asset Management Bhd, Syhiful Zamri Abdul Azid, CIO of Maybank Asset Management Sdn Bhd, Tan Gan Leong, head of investments at KAF Investment Funds Bhd, and The Edge Editor of Wealth Kuek Ser Kwang Zhe. (Photo by Low Yen Yeing/The Edge)

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 24): Public Mutual Bhd emerged as the biggest winner at the LSEG Lipper Fund Awards 2025 by clinching 28 individual awards and two group awards.

Tan Sri Dr Tay Ah Lek, the managing director of Public Bank Bhd (KL:PBBANK) and chairman of Public Mutual, and Chiang Kang Pey, the chief executive officer of Public Mutual, received the two group awards on stage from award presenter Xav Feng, a director of LSEG Lipper Asia Pacific Research. 

Other group awards winners were KAF Investment Funds Bhd, Principal Asset Management Bhd, Maybank Asset Management Sdn Bhd, Manulife Investment Management (M) Bhd and TA Investment Management Bhd. 

KAF and Principal also won eight individual awards separately. 

RHB Asset Management Sdn Bhd and PMB Investment Bhd were two big winners in the individual awards category as they won 10 and nine individual awards respectively. 

A total of 95 individual awards and seven group awards were given to 16 fund management companies at the awards ceremony held at the Four Seasons Hotel here.

Together with Feng, Anupam Kishore, LSEG's head of sales of the Asia Pacific region in charge of low latency and analytics solutions, was also an awards presenter. 

During his welcoming speech, Feng congratulated the winners by citing a quote from Demi Moore, who won the Best Actress award at the 2025 Golden Globe Awards for her role in movie The Substance.

“The quote is to encourage those who don’t feel enough to stop comparing themselves with each other [and celebrate the achievements they have made].

“She said that in those moments when we don’t think we are smart enough or pretty enough, or skinny enough or successful enough, or basically just not enough. I had a woman say to me, ‘Just know, you will never be enough. But you can know the value of your worth if you just put down the measuring stick.’”

Feng also made a short presentation during his speech on global fund flow trends. 

According to LSEG Lipper, money market funds attracted the highest number of net inflows last year at US$1,404 billion. That was followed by bond (US$1,055 billion), equity (US$485 billion), alternative (US$114 billion) and commodity (US$16 billion). 

From an asset class perspective, only mixed asset funds experienced net outflows last year at US$260 billion.

On the local front, bond funds received the highest number of net inflows last year at US$1,869 million. That was followed by money market (US$649 million), mixed assets (US$506 million), alternative (US$34 million), and commodity (US$13 million). 

Equity and real estate experienced net outflows last year at US$425 million and US$524 million respectively, said Feng. 

Feng added that the Lipper Leader officially released its expense rating this year to track the total expense ratio (TER) of unit trust funds. 

As at Feb 10, a total of 1,079 funds had published their TER in their annual reports, and Lipper had assigned the rating to 793 funds registered for sales in Malaysia, he said. 

Simply put, the TER measures the total cost of managing a unit trust fund, expressed as a percentage of the fund’s average assets under management. The ratio usually includes management administrative costs, distribution and marketing fees and other costs.