One year and nine months after it was made public that the Mexican Pension Funds would be able to invest in international mutual funds, the Amafore, the Mexican Pension Managers’ Association, released a list with 42 mutual funds from 11 asset managers, the afores will be able to choose from. This list will be updated on a monthly basis, adding other funds to it.
The list of authorized managers consists of:
- AllianceBernstein
- Amundi
- AXA
- BlackRock
- Franklin Templeton
- Investec
- Janus Henderson
- Morgan Stanley
- Natixis
- Schroders
- Vanguard
Salvador Moreno, Head of Mexico Sales & Distribution, at AXA IM told Funds Society: “AXA Investment Managers is very pleased to be selected by the Mexican Pensions Association (MPA) for three of our active thematic equity funds focused on robotech, the digital economy and evolving trends. We are proud that our forward-looking approach to bring these top-tier, innovative funds to market has been well received by the MPA given the evolving investment landscape in Mexico. The country is increasingly welcoming high-tech and automation companies, leading sophisticated investors in Mexico to explore new economy strategies that were not previously available to them. Given our deep understanding of the Mexican market as well as our global, multi-asset scale and expertise, we are confident these funds provide a differentiating set of solutions tailored to investor needs in the region.”
Juan Hernández, Vanguard Mexico’s Country Manager told Funds Society that, in this first selection, three of his funds were authorized by the Amafore and that before the end of the year they expect to have 10 Vanguard funds authorized. For the manager, this is a very positive step “so that Afores can continue to diversify their portfolios … Afores are now very focused on changing their Siefore funds to target date funds, and are on a very aggressive timeline… I think that once they finish that, is when we will begin to see activity in mutual funds.”
Gustavo Lozano, Amundi Mexico’s CEO mentioned that they are excited to have had authorized a range of funds that “we believe will complement the investment solutions for the pension sector in Mexico. This is one more step in our history in Mexico and the region.”
Hugo Petricioli, regional director for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean at Franklin Templeton added that “we are very happy for the approval of two funds from our SICAV family and congratulate the Amafore for the effort. More options for Afores mean more opportunities for the workers. The approval of Luxembourg funds is no accident, they have an excellent regulation and that is why they are the largest in Europe and by far, we have seen many competitors coming to Mexico to offer everything, including products with strange regulation. Amafore will have a great responsibility in approving products and in seeking the best standards and practices. Whatever is done well today, will save many headaches in the future.”
According to Amafore, the funds in the list comply with all the regulator’s requests and “this change allows Afores to have more options and a more diversified portfolio, in order to access international markets, and the possibility of improving their members’ pensions through higher yields … The list of funds was shared with Afores by the Amafore Specialized Analysis Center (CAE). “
