Amanah Saham Nasional Berhad - Part 3 (Amanah Saham Nasional 3 Imbang Fund)

The Amanah Saham Nasional 3 Imbang (ASN3) Fund was launched on the 16th of October 2001. The fund is categorized as Balanced Fund, investing into equity and other capital market instruments.

This fund is available for both Bumiputera and Non-Bumiputera Malaysian depending on the availability of units of the Fund.

Now, let's take a look at some important information of ASN3 abstracted from the Annual Financial Report as of 31 Nov 2011*

(As of posting date, the ASN3's Annual Financial Report for 31 Nov 2012 has yet to be released) 

Asset Allocation as of 31 Nov 2011
Equity Market - 55.51%
Fixed Income Security - 6.85%
Other Instrument Market Models and Assets - 37.64%

Average Annual Returns as of 31 Nov 2011
The average annual returns for the ASN3 over a period of 1, 3 and 5 years are shown in the table below:

For Malaysians who do not understand Bahasa Melayu, the translation as follows:

"Jumlah Purata Pulangan (%)" is defined as "Total Average Returns". 

"Penanda Aras (%)" is defined as "Benchmark Value"

Fund Annual Performance On Year to Year Basis

The fund's actual performance on a year to year basis from 2007 - 2011 are shown in the table below:

"Jumlah Pulangan (%)" is defined as "Total Returns"

"Penanda Aras (%)" is defined as "Benchmark Value"

Top 3 Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) Indices Invested by ASN3 as of 30th Nov 2012

Top 3 KLSE Indices Invested by ASN3

1. Services Indice (21.20% of NAV - RM 26,254,762)

2. Financial Indice (15.84% of NAV - RM 18,651,755)

3. Plantation Indice (1.73% of NAV - RM 4,868,496)

From the top 3 indices invested by ASN3, we have listed out the top three Equities for each of the indice as shown below:

Top 3 Equities Invested in Services Indice:

1. Axiata Group Berhad

2. Sime Darby Berhad

3. Tenaga Nasional Berhad

Top 3 Equities Invested in Financial Indice:

1. Malayan Banking Berhad

2. CIMB Group Holdings Berhad

3. Public Bank Berhad

Top 3 Equities Invested in Plantation Indice:

1. IOI Corporation Berhad

2. Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad

3. Kulim (M) Berhad

Annual Expense Ratio for ASN3 as of 30 Nov 2011

Management Fee : 1% Per Year Over NAV

Trustee Fee : 0.08% Per Year Over NAV

Transaction Information

Summary

Returns of 3.17% for this Fund for  Financial Year 2011 has certainly discourage me from buying this fund. Although it has outperformed the benchmark of 2.00%, the 3.17% return is almost similar to the placing your money in a Fixed Deposit Account. Considering the fact that the fund has more then 50% of its NAV invested into KLSE, I would have expect the returns to be much higher then 3.17%. 

There's much to be questioned on the ability of the fund managers incharge of ASN3 fund if you compare year 2011 returns from ASN3 (3.17%) with the Amanah Saham Gemilang's fund returns of 15.04% (ASG-Pendidikan), 16.33% (ASG-Kesihatan) and 14.44% (ASG-Persaraan).

I'm looking forward for the Annual Financial Report for ASN3 for Financial Year End 30th Nov 2012. From that report, I believe I can make further judgement on the performance of this fund. 

With that I end my 3-part ASNB fund introduction and review. It is my great hope that you find the reviews beneficial and helpful towards deciding the best fund to invest in.

Cheers and Happy Investing

MY Investor

Related Articles / Post:

1) Amanah Saham Nasional Berhad - Part 1 (Introduction)

2) Amanah Saham Nasional Berhad - Part 2 (Amanah Saham Gemilang Fund)

Charges For Purchasing Unit Trust / Mutual Funds

One of the key decision to make before investing your money in Unit Trust / Mutual Funds is the  charges that comes with it.

Charges for investing into Unit Trust / Mutual Funds are normally in the form of percentage (%) and consist of two types:

1. Initial Sales Charge - once for every time you invest an amount into Unit Trust
2. Annual Expense ratio - incurred annually by deducting certain % of the Net Asset Value of the fund. Deduction is calculated on a pro-rated daily basis and will be deducted from the NAV of the fund at the end of each day before the price of the fund is published. In other words, the Annual Expense ratio is considered already embedded into the pricing of the unit trust fund. For further clarification, I recommend that you read this post on 4 Myths about Unit Trust Investing.

In order to make this post easier to understand, lets make a case comparison of incurred charges between Unit Trust / Mutual Funds and the typical Fixed Deposit offered by the bank.

Type of Charges	Fixed Deposit	Unit Trust / Mutual Fund
Initial Sales Charge	None	0% - 7% (once for every invested amount depending on type of fund)
Annual Management Fee	None	1% - 1.5% annually (depending on type of fund)
Trustee Fee	None	0.06% - 0.08% of NAV (subject to a minimum of RM18,000 per annum)
Annual Expense ratio*	None	1.5% - 2.5% annually

*Annual Expense ratio is the various expenses that a unit trust incurs to keep it running, expressed as a percentage of the unit trust’s net asset value (NAV) per annum and is deducted from a unit trust’s asset on a daily basis before the price of the fund is published. Expense ratio includes annual management fee, trustee fee, administration fee, accounting and valuation fee, audit fee, custodian fee, legal fee, registrar fee, printing and distribution costs and other expenses. Expense ratios for equity funds typically range from 1.5% to 2.5%, and for fixed income funds, the expense ratios typically range from 1% to 1.5%.

From the table above, we can summarized that on the average we are charged with the following:

1. One time "Initial Sales Charge" for each investment made : ranging from 0% - 7%
2. Annual Expense ratio : ranging from 1.5% - 2.5%

While we need not know about the details of the charges, it is important that you make a comparison of charges among funds of the same investment nature. Here's a sample comparison of a few funds of the same investment nature:

Fund Name	Initial Sales Charge	Annual Management Charge	Trustee Fee	Annual Expense Ratio
Eastspring Invesment Asia Pacific Equity My Fund	5%	1.5%	0.07%	1.89%
Hwang Asia Pacific (ex Japan) Infrastructure Fund	5%	1.8%	0.08%	2.26%
Pheim Asia Ex -Japan	5%	1.5%	0.07%	1.68%

The obvious option is to select Pheim Asia Ex-Japan fund as your fund of choice. However, do note that selecting a fund based on the charges is just one of the many criteria of selecting a fund. There are also other considerations such as:

1. Fund historical performance
2. Fund area of investment
3. Fund risk rating

For future updates/tips in Investing, just bookmark http://invest-made-easy.blogspot.com or  just subscribe to me using the "Subscribe to Invest Made Easy" located at the top right of the right column.

Cheers and happy investing

MY Investor