MCIS Insurance Berhad – widely known as ‘MCIS Life’ – has demonstrated resilience and strategic growth with a skilful management of its investment team and fund managers. Amid the myriad of global economic fluctuations in its past financial year, the company has navigated with agility and proficiency, ensuring stability and progress.
The investment team’s expertise in navigating volatile markets has enabled the company’s funds to post a commendable year of results, further highlighting MCIS Life’s adaptability and firm commitment to ensuring the financial well-being of clients.
Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Wan Mohd Fakruddin Razi (pic) said that the company’s investment strategy carefully considers economic factors that impact performance, emphasising long-term growth and stability.
“MCIS Investment’s portfolio is designed to accommodate market volatility, ensuring consistently good value for our clients,” he said in a press release.
“Given our consistent record of outperforming benchmarks in recent years, we maintain a positive outlook on the market. We are confident that the performance of MCIS Investment will continue to be favourable. Our investment focus will target sectors poised to benefit from economic recovery, aiming to secure positive capital appreciation for our investments.”
He added that Sustainable Investing, with a focus on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors, remains a key priority: “In line with our commitment to sustainability, investments in non-ESG compliant assets will not exceed 10% of our total investments.”
For its financial year ended 31 December 2023,
MCIS Life Dividend Fund gained 0.44% and outperformed the benchmark by 317bps where FBMKLCI Index posted a negative return of 2.73%. MCIS Life Equity Fund lost 0.35% for the year 2023. However, the fund had outperformed the benchmark for yearly basis by 238bps. Meanwhile, MCIS Life Jati Fund has posted a negative return of 0.16% for the year 2023, underperforming the benchmark FBM EMAS Shariah Index by 62bps, which posted a gain of 0.46% for the same period under review. These three local based asset funds are managed to outperform the benchmark for the three-year and five-year periods under review. The outperformance was mainly due to low exposure of underperforming stocks.
Its local fixed income funds, namely MCIS Life Income Fund and MCIS Life Balanced Fund, had overperformed its required benchmark by 147bps and 87bps on an annual basis respectively. Both funds also managed to outperform the benchmarks for the three-year and five-year periods under review.
The MCIS Life AsiaPac Fund, which is investing in Principal S&P Ethical Asia Pacific Dividend ETF listed in Singapore, recorded a healthy return of 9.95%, outperformed the benchmark return which recorded a gain of 4.11%. The outperformance was due to better performance of the underlying asset and cash holdings in the portfolio. The fund also managed to outperform the benchmark index for three-year and five-year periods by 750bps and 537bps respectively.
Meanwhile, the MCIS Life Global Yakin Fund, a feeder fund that invests in Aberdeen Islamic World Equity Fund, gave a double-digit return of 20.96%, outperformed the benchmark MSCI AC World Islamic Index by 131bps. The fund also managed to outperform the benchmark index for a three-year period by 32bps.
MCIS Life Titan Fund which investing in MyETF Dow Jones U.S. Titans 50, registered a double-digit growth of 33.31% y-o-y for the period ended 31st December 2023. The fund however had underperformed the benchmark index, Dow Jones Islamic Market U.S. Titans 50 Index which registered a higher positive return of 39.92% in the same period under review. For three-year period, the fund managed to outperform the benchmark by 177bps.
Moving forward, the company is anticipating a positive recovery in 2024, especially for the local market, supported by improved corporate earnings and a resilient domestic economy.
On the global economic review, market sentiment should improve with the tail-end of global monetary policy tightening and the Presidential Election which historically translates into a positive year for the U.S market, with an anticipated positive spillover effect on other regional markets as well.
“For fixed income, BNM is anticipated to keep its monetary policy unchanged in 1H2024, aiming to balance the economic growth and inflationary pressure in the country,” said Wan.
“External risk factors continue to weigh on the local market, mainly due to the on-going Russia-Ukraine and the Middle East conflicts. As such, we will keep looking to buy on dips of corporate bonds if the opportunity arises.”
Meanwhile, MCIS Life is also actively incorporating ESG principles across all facets of its operations. This commitment is reflected in the company’s proactive stance on sustainability, which shapes its decision-making processes, influences new product development, and steers its overall corporate strategies.
“MCIS Life actively engages in various impactful ESG initiatives, such as reducing our carbon footprint, fostering greener workplaces, supporting community programmes and ensuring transparent governance,” said Wan.
“These initiatives are aimed at creating long-term value for the business, the MCIS Life ecosystem, our customers, and the wider community. Moving forward, we are continuously adapting our ESG commitments to meet emerging challenges and changing landscapes, reinforcing the synergy between protection and sustainability as core components of strategy.”
This article is provided by MCIS Life.
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