J.P. Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM) announced the launch of the JPMorgan Multi Balanced Fund (the “Fund”) which aims at offering investors a lower volatility1 solution for building a balanced core for their portfolios. In 2017, there are still unexpected geopolitics and economics events lurking and each might cause turmoil across financial markets. In addition, the monetary policy divergence may bring increased economic uncertainties and market volatility. Therefore, a balanced portfolio with exposure to bonds – which historically are less volatile than equities – will likely offer a cushion effect to investors.
As a result, the Fund has been launched to meet the need of those investors who are looking for stable return with moderate risk tolerance by striving for relatively lower volatility1 with dynamic allocation, seeking to take advantage of global trends and capturing growth opportunities while offering monthly distribution2.
Unlike traditional balanced funds which tend to maintain a relatively fixed asset class exposure, the Fund is designed to take a flexible approach and may hold between 10% and 50% of its total net asset value in equity securities and between 50% and 90% in debt securities. Its investment objective is to achieve capital growth in excess of its reference benchmark3 by investing primarily in securities globally. Its reference benchmark over the past ten years serves to illustrate that the balanced approach has delivered a relatively lower volatility as compared to Emerging Market Equities, Developed Market Equities and Global Corporate High Yield4 .
Leon Goldfeld, Fund Manager of JPMorgan Multi Balanced Fund, said, “We are striving to identify the key driving forces across the globe and seek to benefit from global economic trends. Our investment team then devises relevant investment strategies and applies bottom-up screening to the securities associated with these global economic trends. Also, our asset allocation decisions are the result of qualitative and quantitative research into a range of fundamental factors such as economic outlook, official policy actions, market valuation levels, and investor sentiment positioning. The Fund’s initial asset allocation will reflect our growing confidence that economic momentum will broaden out further over the year, which creates a brighter outlook for growth assets such as equities.”
Elisa Ng, Head of Intermediary Business at JPMAM, said, “For the last few years, Hong Kong investors have invested an increasing amount of their portfolios in bonds. In this rising rates environment, having bonds alone in a portfolio may not compare favourably against a balanced approach with some equity exposure. Thus, the Fund is designed to take a flexible approach of dynamic asset allocation and to strive for relatively lower volatility1 . With these features, we believe the Fund can help investors capture growth opportunities with flexibility in fixed income and equity investing while facing rising rates environment and unexpected market events. Also, the Fund is at least 80% hedged to the US Dollar5, which allows for exposure to assets in other currencies that present additional opportunities in foreign terms.”
Those investors who are seeking an investment solution which offers multiple currency choices with relatively lower volatility1 , dynamic asset allocation and global expertise to benefit from global trends might consider investing in the Fund. With a monthly distribution feature6 , the Fund is available in USD, HKD, AUD Hedged, EUR Hedged and RMB Hedged classes7.
For further information please contact
Daniel Chui,
Head of Investor Communications Florence Chan,
Media Relations
Telephone: (852) 2800 2874
Telephone: (852) 2800 2776
Email: daniel.wc.chui@jpmorgan.com
Email: florence.my.chan@jpmorgan.com
