Pru Life UK launches new diversified investment fund

PRU LIFE Insurance Corp. of UK (Pru Life UK) has launched a global investment-linked income insurance fund available for both peso and dollar products as it looks to increase its customers’ access to offshore assets.

The PRULink Strategic Income Fund invests in multiple regions, sectors, and asset classes to provide policyholders a venue for diversification amid the shifting global financial landscape.

“What we want to offer… is some form of safety. When everything is uncertain, what we want to offer them is some sort of safety net that they can have on. It’s only apt that it is now that we are launching this, because the PruLink Strategic Income Fund is our response to the different market challenges,” Pru Life UK Chief Investment Officer Princess Charm Baun Balingit said in a speech at the launch event on Wednesday.

She said this is the life insurer’s first internally managed fund and was designed as a global multi-asset, multi-manager fund-of-funds under an investment-linked insurance product.

“We believe that the real type of diversification is being able to find different growth channels. So, it may come from bonds, it may come from equity dividends, it may come from option premiums, it may come from structured incomes. All of these sources of returns will be able to define the type of growth that our clients will need in their portfolios,” Ms. Balingit said.

The PruLink Strategic Income Fund spreads out its investments across Allianz Global Investors, Amundi Investment Solutions, and BlackRock, Inc.

The life insurer’s in-house fund managers allocate 40% of investments in Amundi’s Income Opportunities Funds that offers downside qualities, 50% in Allianz Income and Growth Fund that skews towards US-centric riskier assets such as equities, high yield, and convertibles, and 10% in BlackRock Systematic Global Equity Fund, which provides upside.

“So, when we talk about the strategic income fund, it puts together not just one, but three global fund managers — three distinct investment policies integrated into one. That is the edge that we are actually giving with this one,” Ms. Balingit said.

She said allocations can be adjusted to up to 80% for either Allianz and Amundi and up to 20% for BlackRock.

The fund aims to provide long-term capital growth to customers with moderate to aggressive risk profiles and is available in unhedged peso and dollar share classes.

Pru Life UK booked a premium income of P52.84 billion last year, latest Insurance Commission data showed. Its net income was at P7.103 billion. — Aaron Michael C. Sy