The Sun Life Financial Group of companies, one of the biggest life insurance firms in North America, is bullish on the long term prospects of the Philippine capital market in anticipation of a more stable economic and political environment.

Douglas C. Henck, Executive Vice President for Asian Operations of Sun Life Financial, said investor confidence on the local equities market is slowly being restored. Riding on this positive belief, he predicted that in addition to more investments in equities, investors are now ready to look and buy into more sophisticated forms of investments like mutual funds.

A mutual fund is an investment company that pools money from its shareholders and invests it in a diversified portfolio of securities.

According to Henck, the Philippines is ready to support the mutual fund industry. He believes that "the Philippine (mutual fund) market will grow and I think it will grow faster than the markets in America and we expect to be the leader in this market."

"It's a good business to be in and we're going to help the Philippines and the Filipino consumer to grow with us in that market. It's a good time for us to invest (in the Philippines) just like it's a good time for people to invest in mutual funds," he added.

Many financial advisers recommend regularly investing in mutual funds, whether in an equity, balanced or bond fund, over a long period of time. Investments in a mutual fund normally fluctuate in value, depending on the prevailing market price of the underlying assets. By taking on a long term investment time horizon, investors have the option to take on additional risks to enhance the return on their investments.

Henck also advises investors to diversify their portfolio and to let professional fund managers handle it. For a player in the equities market, following the various individual stocks according to Henck, is almost impossible to do. To simplify matters, he recommends that it is better for investors "to allow professional managers to do it. That's where the mutual fund comes in." Through the guidance of investment managers, the mutual funds will be professionally invested.

Sun Life Prosperity Funds is one such family of mutual funds, composed of the Sun Life Prosperity Bond Fund, the Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, and the Sun Life Prosperity Balanced Fund. These funds are managed by Sun Life Asset Management Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sun Life Financial of Canada, one of the largest insurance companies and asset managers in the world. Founded in 1871, Sun Life Financial of Canada has world-wide assets under its administration in excess of Can $ 328.5 billion as of end-December 2000.

In these times of growing investor sophistication, mutual funds offer investors a wider range of investment products to choose from. That is why Henck believes that now is the time for investors to take steps to achieve their investment goals.