Fund Houses

A fund house is also known as a fund company or unit trust management company in Malaysia. They own and operate mutual funds.

From Investopedia,

“Fund company is a commonly used term to describe an investment company, which is a corporation or trust engaged in the business of investing the pooled capital of investors in financial securities. This is most often done either through a closed-end fund or an open-end fund (conventional mutual fund). Fund companies can also offer ETFs, and other vehicles called separate accounts and CITs. In the U.S., most fund companies are registered and regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Company Act of 1940.

(Investopedia Definition Link)”

Fund houses in Malaysia

You can safely ignore the last two sentences in the above definition. In short, these companies are the one who sell you mutual funds. There are 36 such fund houses in Malaysia:

1	ABERDEEN ISLAMIC ASSET MANAGEMENT SDN BHD
2	AFFIN HWANG ASSET MANAGEMENT BERHAD
3	AMANAH MUTUAL BERHAD
4	AMANAH SAHAM NASIONAL BERHAD
5	AMANAH SAHAM SARAWAK BERHAD
6	AMANAHRAYA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT SDN BHD
7	AMFUNDS MANAGEMENT BERHAD
8	APEX INVESTMENT SERVICES BERHAD
9	ARECA CAPITAL SDN BHD
10	BIMB INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT BERHAD
11	CIMB-PRINCIPAL ASSET MANAGEMENT BERHAD
12	EASTSPRING INVESTMENTS BERHAD
13	FRANKLIN TEMPLETON GSC ASSET MANAGEMENT SDN BHD
14	HONG LEONG ASSET MANAGEMENT BHD
15	INTER-PACIFIC ASSET MANAGEMENT SDN BHD
16	KAF INVESTMENT FUNDS BERHAD
17	KEDAH ISLAMIC ASSET MANAGEMENT BERHAD Website is not safe
18	KENANGA INVESTORS BHD
19	LIBRA INVEST BERHAD
20	MANULIFE ASSET MANAGEMENT SERVICES BERHAD
21	MAYBANK ASSET MANAGEMENT SDN BHD
22	MIDF AMANAH ASSET MANAGEMENT BERHAD
23	PACIFIC MUTUAL FUND BERHAD
24	PENGURUSAN KUMIPA BERHAD
25	PERMODALAN BSN BERHAD
26	PHEIM UNIT TRUSTS BERHAD
27	PHILLIP MUTUAL BERHAD
28	PMB INVESTMENT BERHAD
29	PTB UNIT TRUST BERHAD
30	PUBLIC MUTUAL BERHAD
31	RHB ASSET MANAGEMENT SDN BHD
32	RHB ISLAMIC INTERNATIONAL ASSET MANAGEMENT BERHAD (same as above)
33	SAHAM SABAH BERHAD
34	SATURNA SDN BHD
35	TA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT BERHAD
36	UOB Asset Management (Malaysia) Berhad

[From Federation of Investment Managers Malaysia (FIMM) website (Link)]

What do they do?

Every company offers different types of mutual funds but some of these funds are overlapping. The performances of these funds vary too and the differences can be very significant, even if the funds invest in the same sector. This is due to the fact that the performance of a fund depends on its fund manager. What does a fund manager do? Isn’t the fund run by the fund company?

The definition of fund manager from Investopedia is:

“A fund manager is responsible for implementing a fund’s investing strategy and managing its portfolio trading activities. A fund can be managed by one person, by two people as co-managers, or by a team of three or more people. Fund managers are paid a fee for their work, which is a percentage of the fund’s average assets under management (AUM).

(Investopedia Definition Link)”

Although the fund houses own the mutual funds, they still need dedicated personnel to manage the funds. To manage means to buy, sell and monitor the funds constantly. These are the functions of a fund manager. Their primary aim is to make money for the investors. Sounds good right? You just have to pass your money to the fund and the pro will help you to grow it. Nonetheless, there is no free lunch in the world. In return for their services and expertise, there are fees payable to these entities. Furthermore, the returns are not guaranteed. Keep in mind that investing in mutual funds is not riskless.

If you are interested in mutual funds, I suggest you to check out Fundsupermart (Link) for its lower sales charge compared to buying the funds directly from the fund houses. However, this platform does not contain the funds of all companies. If that’s the case, you have no choice but to visit the respective fund companies or their websites.