An investment company means any issuer which is or holds itself out as being engaged primarily, or proposes to engage primarily, in the business of investing, reinvesting, or trading in securities (Sec. 4. a, Republic Act No. 2629 or Investment Company Act)

Classification

Investment companies are divided into open-end and closed-end companies, defined as follows:

(1) Open-end company means an investment company which is offering for sale or has outstanding any redeemable security of which it is the issuer.

(2) Closed-end company means any investment company other than an open-end company. (Sec. 5, Republic Act No. 2629 or Investment Company Act)

In addition, an Investment Company may be classified by investment policy as either:

a. Equity Fund – shall refer to an Investment Company with the objective to invest predominantly in or hold equity instruments.

b. Bond Fund or Fixed Income Fund – shall refer to an Investment Company which invests in fixed income instruments such as bonds, treasury bills, certificates of deposit, promissory notes, bills of exchange, debentures, etc. It should not invest in shares, except redeemable preferred shares, or share warrants.

c. Balanced Fund – shall refer to an Investment Company that invests in both equity and fixed income instruments. The respective investments in either equity or fixed income shall not be less than thirty five percent (35%) but not more than sixty five percent (65%) of the NAV of the Investment Company.

d. Feeder Fund – shall refer to an MFC that invests at least ninety percent (90%) of its net assets in a single CIS established by another Fund Manager, asset management company or fund operator, which shall not be a feeder fund.

e. Fund-of-Funds – shall refer to an MFC that invests at least fifty percent (50%) of its net assets in more than one (1) CIS established by another Fund Manager/s, asset management company/ies or fund operator/s.

f. Index Fund – shall refer to an Investment Company with an objective of providing investors with a return that replicates or is linked to securities indices as disclosed in its prospectus.

g. Money market funds –shall refer to an Investment Company that invests in short-term fixed income securities with a portfolio duration of one (1) year or less.

h. Multi-asset/Asset Allocation Fund – shall refer to an MFC that invests in a fixed or variable mix of both equity and fixed income instruments, as well as cash and cash-equivalents

The above enumerations are not exclusive. There may be other classifications of funds based on their investment policy that may be approved by the Commission.