It said the payout was for two fixed-price funds, namely Amanah Saham Bumiputera 2 (ASB 2) and Amanah Saham Malaysia (ASM).

“ASB 2 declared a total income distribution payout of RM0.73 billion, equivalent to 5.50 sen per unit, to 614,309 unit holders who currently own 14.12 billion units.

“Meanwhile, ASM declared a total income distribution payout of RM1.45 billion, equivalent to five sen per unit, to 740,513 unit holders with 29.14 billion units.

“As of March 20, ASB 2 had recorded a net realised income of RM0.8 billion, while ASM recorded RM1.55 billion,” PNB said in a statement.

It said the income distributions for ASB 2 at 5.50 sen per unit and ASM at five sen per unit marked an increase of 0.25 sen per unit compared with last year, despite the challenging global capital market environment.

PNB said the funds have also seen progressive improvements over the past three years, reflecting its commitment to enhancing returns and strengthening portfolio resilience.

The fund management company said the distributions of ASB 2 and ASM translated to total returns of 5.5% and 5% respectively. Both outperform the benchmark of Maybank’s 12-month fixed deposit, which is 2.56%, by 294 basis points for ASB 2 and 244 basis points for ASM.

“The strong performance of these two fixed price funds is driven by positive domestic and global equity returns, as well as a continued asset diversification strategy across geographies and asset classes.

“Going forward, PNB will continue diversifying assets, particularly into fixed income, to ensure a stable and consistent stream of income,” it added.