Manulife Investment Management has launched its online investment platform, “iFunds”, to investors in Malaysia, according to a statement from the firm.
The platform enables users to select, manage and track their Manulife unit trust funds online. The platform screens for appropriate funds based on the user’s investment and risk profile and allows them to review the selection by filtering various fund metrics that best meet their own investment objectives.
It also provides up-to-date information on the user’s Manulife funds portfolio, performance, asset allocations and transaction history.
In Malaysia, Manulife IM offers 57 unit trust and private retirement scheme funds to investors, according to the statement. It is the fifth largest fund manager in Malaysia, managing MYR 6bn ($1.44bn) in assets, excluding money market funds, according to data from Morningstar Direct.
The firm noted that iFunds is also being used as a tool by its advisers to walk through their clients’ portfolio.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has brought to light the need for easy-to-use digital applications that can mitigate the disruptions on face-to-face interactions, whether it’s how people invest or how business is done,” Ng Chze How, head of retail wealth distribution at Manulife IM in Malaysia, said in the statement.
“[But] some investors still want to talk to an adviser when making investment decisions or switching funds, and we have seen strong interest from our advisers in using Manulife iFunds to better serve their clients’ investment needs,” he said.
The platform has already been launched in other markets in Asia, including Hong Kong and the Philippines. In Hong Kong, it was rolled out in February last year and saw its AUM double in the first quarter alone due to the pandemic.
As of the end of June, Manulife IM had CAD$900bn ($660bn) in assets under management and administration globally, according to the statement.
