Open-end funds offer an attractive combination

The most important is the appropriate customer approach.

Ongoing transactions – new subscriptions and/or redemptions – can be started over again from January 29th 2019. The minimum subscription amount is 1,000,000 dong per order.

According to Mr. Takashi Fujii, Chairman of the Board of Members of Dai-ichi Life International, Asia-Pacific cum Chairman of the Board of Members of Dai-ichi Life Vietnam and Member’s Council of Dai-ichi Life Vietnam Fund Management Company Limited (DFVN), in addition to diversified portfolio of quality life insurance products, the launching of DFVN-CAF will give clients more options for financial solution with Japanese quality, helping clients to accumulate and grow their wealth efficiently in order to live their comfortable lifestyle as they wish to.

After more than 4 years of DFVN's establishment and operation, DFVN-CAF is the first open-ended fund established and managed by DFVN. Is it a bit late to step into the market that currently has more than 20 open-ended funds, Sir?

What we concern is not early or late, the most important is to choose the right time. Looking back at the open-ended fund market, as of November 30, 2018, the whole industry had 24 open-ended funds, the total asset size was about VND 13,378 billion, with about 30,000 investor accounts; these numbers are too modest compared to the population of nearly 100 million people and the economy of Vietnam, as well as the countries in the region. Therefore, the market potential is huge if fund management companies have appropriate customer approaches and bring them effective investment solutions. I think we must look on the whole market to solve the supply-demand problem

In general, individual investors are not interested in open-ended fund products, is it reasonable that the fund’s products are not attractive, the portfolio is not diversified?

I think the cause is not the products, but the approach and experience of customers (investors). The open-ended fund was established in Vietnam since 2013, but the number of investors introduced, understood and invested in open-ended funds is very limited. Experience in developed markets shows that distribution channels play an important role in introducing open-ended funds and enabling investors to invest through open-ended funds. We will focus on communication to provide knowledge and orientation for potential investors, for the sustainable development of the open-ended fund market. The stock market is a measure of the strength of the economy. Therefore, with the growth prospects of Vietnam's economy in 2019 and the following years, I believe that the growth of open-ended funds in particular and the stock market in general will be better. In addition, based on the statistics reported on the performance of open-ended funds in the last few years, it has proved the value that fund management companies bring to investors, with the return on investment through open-ended funds are very good, especially for "passive" investors, with little time, information or investment experience on the stock market. When participating in the market, DFVN aims to work with a group of leading fund management companies to bring practical value to investors. Open-ended fund products in the Vietnamese market are now more diversified and advanced, including growth funds, bond funds, and balance funds. The market now also has exchange-traded fund (ETF) or real estate investment fund (REIT). However, new fund’s products need to take into account the absorption capacity of the market, corresponding to the level and experience of investors, transaction infrastructure systems, services ...

In 2019, many fund management companies expect, voluntary additional retirement funds will come into operation. DFVN is probably no exception? DFVN is very interested in and we expect on the establishment and development of voluntary supplementary pension funds in Vietnam. Faithful to the "customer first" of Dai-ichi Life Group’s business philosophy, we will always strive to improve and create products to provide customers with advanced and effective financial protection and investment solutions to meet the diverse needs of customers in different stages in life. Voluntary supplement pension fund is one of the financial products that we are studying to bring to customers when the market conditions are favorable.

By NGOC LAN