Singapore retail investors can now buy the Amundi Asia Funds – CIO Barbell Income Fund which adopts a strategy that was previously only available to accredited investors.
It is managed by French asset manager Amundi and exclusively distributed by DBS, according to the two companies.
“The retail launch of the DBS CIO Barbell Income Fund marks another milestone achievement in our ongoing efforts to democratise access to wealth management services,” said Evy Wee, head of financial planning, investments and insurance solutions, DBS Bank.
Apart from investing in dividend stocks and corporate bonds, the multi-asset fund also utilises a “buy-write” strategy, also known as covered call, to enhance income generation.
To compensate for the little-to-no dividends in many growth stocks, the fund buys the stock and simultaneously sells call options to collect option premiums.
Almost 60% of the AUM is allocated to equities, 32.9% of the assets are invested in bonds, and the remaining allocation is in cash.
Breaking down by geography, most of the assets are invested in the US (36.6%), followed by China (13.5%) and the UK (7.5%).
Investors will need to invest a minimum of S$1,000, pay an initial sales charge of 0.82 percent, and are not subjected to a lock-in investing period, according to the announcement.
The management fee is capped and currently at 1.25% per annum.
DBS and POSB retail and DBS Treasures customers can buy the fund via internet banking, and it will soon be available for purchase through the DBS/POSB digibank app.
Customers are advised to make use of the digital investment advisory feature on the DBS NAV Planner tool to determine their suitability based on individualised investment risk profiles or approach a wealth planning manager before investing in the fund.
With the new fund, the Singaporean bank also introduced digiportfolio, a ready-made investment portfolio combining human expertise and robo-technology.
Investors can choose from the Asia portfolio and global portfolio, which invest in Singapore listed ETFs and UK listed ETFs respectively.
