AFFIN HWANG'S FUND PROVIDES MALAYSIANS EASY ACCESS TO CHINA ASSETS

By Kisho Kumari Sucedaram

KUALA LUMPUR, April 16  -- The Affin Hwang World Series-China Allocation Opportunity Fund provides Malaysians with easy access to the full spectrum of China assets, including equities and bonds, regardless of whether they are mainland or offshore-listed.

Affin Hwang Asset Management Bhd (Affin Hwang AM) chief marketing and distribution officer Chan Ai Mei said Malaysians now have an easy “one-stop” access to China through the fund.

Designed for sophisticated investors, she said, the fund is an open-ended wholesale feeder fund that seek to achieve capital appreciation over the medium to long term by investing in a collective investment scheme namely the UBS (Lux) Key Selection SICAV-China Allocation Opportunity (US dollar).

“As the fund is diversified across equities and bonds as well as various Chinese markets, investors would not have to tolerate too much of the ups and downs compared to pure equity strategies,” she told Bernama.

She said the fund also won the Platinum award at the Fund Selector Asia Awards in Singapore twice in a row for 2020 and 2021.

Chan said the fund allowed investors to ride the wave of smart money into China local onshore markets where foreign money is still a very small fraction in China’s vast markets and not many investors appreciating how under-invested China markets are.

“While the flows have been significant, foreign investors only hold three per cent of its stock market and about two per cent of its bond markets,” she said.

She said the under-representation in investors’ portfolios is not prudent as China would prop up global growth for years to come and contribute up to 30 per cent of the world’s fortune in the next decade.

Chan said as China’s economic stature on the world stage continued to grow, investors could also be expected to increase their share of assets to China.

Therefore, she said it is likely that the wall of money into China would continue to grow, especially since investing in mainland stocks and bonds is easier now

She said in the past, access to mainland stocks and bonds used to be restricted to institutional investors who had to apply for investment quotas.

However, she said China has taken various steps to simplify access to its local markets with various connect schemes like the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect in 2014.

She said along the way, the country has addressed several investors’ concerns and simplified many of its investment rules.

“The liberalisation of China’s financial market can be seen as a ‘two-way, win-win situation’ for both China and foreign investors,” she said.

Interested investors may visit https://affinhwangam.com or contact 1800 88 7080 to learn more about the Affin Hwang World Series - China Allocation Opportunity Fund.

Investors are advised to read and understand the contents of the fund’s product highlights sheet, information memorandum Jan 18, 2019 and its first supplemental information memorandum dated Aug 28, 2019 before investing.

-- BERNAMA