Short on time? Here’s what to expect from the article:

• Fund Select is a research-driven framework that aims to help Malaysian investors navigate the large unit trust universe and find the top-performing funds.
• It uses a multi-stage process, supported by the 3p framework: people, process, and performance, with a focus on consistency and resilience across market cycles.
• Funds approved by the Fund Select committee are monitored continuously and reviewed on a quarterly basis to ensure high quality and compliance with all standards.

Sustainable wealth creation usually requires foresight and discipline. When evaluating investments, many Malaysian investors focus on how they can safeguard their assets, secure their legacy, and achieve wider diversification. Within this broader universe, unit trust funds are increasingly relevant in modern portfolios because they make it easy to get exposure to a wide variety of asset classes.

Reflecting the breadth of the market, Malaysia’s public unit trust funds reported a total net asset value (NAV) of RM 578.346 billion as of September 2025, according to data published by Securities Commission Malaysia. This massive scale, while demonstrating market depth, can also introduce complexity.

With a high volume of unit trusts, recognizing the top-performing funds is often a more nuanced and time-intensive process. To successfully navigate this landscape, Standard Chartered employs a proprietary, globally refined system: Fund Select. This framework evaluates the wide universe of trust funds and provides insights into those that have substantiated consistency over multiple market cycles.

Why invest in unit trust funds through Fund Select?

Fund Select uses a research-driven framework to sift through a vast market of unit trusts to identify the top-performing funds through a multi-dimensional review. Instead of focusing only on the best-performing unit trusts based on recent results, it assesses a fund’s performance, consistency, resilience, and positioning.

This approach is not intended to predict outcomes, nor does it imply that a particular fund or strategy is superior in any way. Instead, Fund Select establishes a disciplined method of comparing various unit trust funds, centered on qualitative and quantitative factors that reflect durability across varying economic cycles.

Understanding 3p framework: Road to top performing funds

At the core of Fund Select’s approach lies what is often referred to as the 3p framework, which is a ternary structure of assessment criteria applied to each unit trust before it is shortlisted.

• People: Fund Select assesses the fund management team. This is done to make sure they have a solid track record, experience, stability, and ability to navigate through various market cycles.
• Process: This dimension looks into how trust funds are managed. It provides a qualitative review of the fund’s investment philosophy, portfolio construction method, and risk management practices to ensure consistency in process even during market volatility.
• Performance: Fund Select does not simply look at the previous performance of a fund. Instead, the performance aspect indicates the best-performing unit trust options over a multitude of timeframes and markets with consideration for swings in the marketplace and for risk-adjusted returns.

How does the fund selection process work?

The approach followed by Fund Select is multi-staged and has the following systematic steps:

• Global screening: Fund Select screens all the funds to meet basic eligibility benchmarks such as liquidity and compliance standards.
• Chief Investment Office (CIO) views and alignment with market trends: Shortlisted funds are evaluated according to Standard Chartered’s CIO strategic perspectives and current market trends.
• Assessment through 3p framework: The qualitative evaluation involves engaging with fund managers and reviewing fund performance through the investment philosophy, consistency of process, and the broader fund-house capability.
• Fund Select committee approval: The committee debates the qualitative/quantitative findings presented by the analysts. A unanimous decision to accept or reject the fund recommendation is made by the committee by voting.
• Real-time monitoring of funds: Approved unit trust funds undergo quarterly reviews. Discussions are held with portfolio managers if necessary to remove a fund if its performance or compliance requirements drop.

Leverage Fund Select to find top performing funds

The large and evolving unit trust landscape in Malaysia can seem challenging to navigate. With its structured, research-informed approach, Fund Select cuts through complexity by emphasizing quality and consistent fund performance rather than one-time or high-return pursuits. This methodology can be helpful for investors trying to identify the best unit trust funds in Malaysia.

If you would like to understand how curated fund insights can help in long-term wealth planning, you may explore Fund Select. You may also refer to the fund fact sheet to understand a fund’s characteristics, performance, and risk profile.