Malaysian fund firms boost retail focus amid tough times

Malaysian asset managers had a tough 2015 trying to retain client assets amid falling oil prices, the political scandal at state fund 1MDB and global investor flight from emerging markets. And 2016 is proving tricky too. Managers only managed a third of the mutual fund sales volumes they managed in the same period last year, said Munirah Khairuddin, CEO of CIMB-Principal Asset Management in Kuala Lumpur. Moreover, institutions are no longer such attractive targets for local fund…