Bangkok--15 Jan--Aberdeen Asset Management
Aberdeen unveils its 2007 plan to boost its service efficiency and open up new distribution channels in a bid to cope with the ever-increasing investment demand and retain its place among the country’s top FIF providers.
“Last year we achieved a spectacular 140 % on-year growth in net inflow, chiefly boosted by strong NAV growth of our two successfully-launched FIFs: Aberdeen World Opportunities Fund and Aberdeen European Growth Fund. Aberdeen Long-Term Equity Fund (LTF) and Aberdeen Retirement Mutual Funds (RMFs) also contributed to our positive NAV growth thanks to their tax benefits and winning track record, seen as an investment magnet attracting investors to put their money into our funds,” according to Aberdeen Asset Management’s CEO Robert Penaloza.
This year, Aberdeen targets its NAVs of funds under management to continue to see a steady growth as its products have been well received by investors who understand its investment style. “We plan to launch 5 more FIFs, both equity and fixed income funds this year. So investors can choose the products of their choice to well satisfy their risk appetite in line with their investment objective. We expect our new FIF products to receive a positive response from investors as they view them as a good opportunity to diversify their investments from home to other regions to reduce risk in light of the prevailing political and economic uncertainties,” he further said.
Currently, Aberdeen has secured the largest slice of the SEC US-dollar allocation pie. The total asset size of its FIFs now exceeds 4.8 billion Baht.*
More importantly, Aberdeen also plans to boost its service efficiency to better cater to investors’ needs and take its service to the next levels this year. More staff are also being recruited and trained in a bid to bring its service efficiency up to the Aberdeen Group’s standards applied globally.
In addition, Aberdeen aims to boost the number of distributors nationwide and provide them with more training about its investment products to cope with the ever-increasing investment demand. Currently, investors can buy, sell or switch unit trusts through its internet service “E-Avenue” or through its 22 distributors nationwide. This year, the firm also plans to introduce a bill payment service where investors can conveniently pay the subscription of its unit trusts at several commercial banks. It helps shorten the transaction process and provide more convenient channels to investors.
“We’ve seen investment demand grow significantly and we are now striving to improve our service and increase more channels to reach more investors. “A number of investors don’t know we have distributors throughout the country. We also plan to make this channel better known among investors,” he added.
Moreover, Aberdeen has also repositioned its web site, seen as one of the effective distribution channels to become an information center and a channel for communications to better serve its investors. A quarterly Asia Pacific Equity web-based conference will be the first cyber-event of this year. Our Asia Pacific equity team will discuss the performance of all Aberdeen funds in the Asia Pacific region excluding Japan over the past quarter and 12 months and the outlook for 2007. The interactive web-based presentation is scheduled for Wednesday, 17 January 2007 at 1700 hrs Thailand time. For more information, please visit www.aberdeen-asset.co.th
For more information, please contact
Khun Nontakorn Kijthanapaisan
Tel. 0-2352-3387
[email protected]
Khun Vorachat Bunthuwong
Tel. 0-2352-3383
[email protected]