2TradeAsia.com, the leader in online equities trading, ventured into a distributorship agreement with Sun Life Asset Management Company (SLAMC), the first subsidiary of Sun Life of Canada Philippines, Inc. The investing public now has access to Sun Life's catalog of mutual fund products, better known as Sun Life Prosperity Funds, at 2TradeAsia.com.

"In 2TradeAsia.com, we are committed to educating Filipinos on the value of investing through diversification. Given the current performance of the stock market, Mutual funds provide other schemes such as investing in bonds in the most affordable and transparent way," Ms. Christine U. Yap, Yapster e-Trade Inc.'s CEO says. "Mutual funds are suitable for investors that require liquidity, better long-term returns, and peace of mind as competent professionals can do the work for them."

"Our partnership with 2TradeAsia.com opens more avenues for investors, allowing them to use alternative schemes to broaden their investment choices," Mr. Rolly Robles, SLAMC's President says. "Other than direct equities investing, there are those that require a diversified scheme where they can allot funds to finance their children's college program, build-up resources for retirement, finance dream houses, or those that simply require capital appreciation," he added. Sun Life Asset Management Co. manages three mutual funds namely, Sun Life Prosperity Bond Fund, Sun Life Prosperity Equity Fund and Sun Life Prosperity Balanced Fund.

Mutual Fund companies pools investors' money and uses this to buy portfolio of securities such as stocks, bonds, commercial paper or any combination thereof. Mutual funds issue shares of stock and sell these shares to public investors in exchange for cash.

SLAMC manages the family of Prosperity Funds for shareholders and has Php808M in assets under management. Since launching in April 2000, they have already achieved year-to-date sales of Php529M.

2TradeAsia.com was launched in September 2000 as the first and only financial website that integrates the transactional ability of online stock trading with real-time portfolio management capabilities. Its financial services include free real-time stock quotes, market commentary and outlook, corporate feature and other research guides. It is one of the Internet companies owned and managed by Yapster e-Conglomerate, Inc.

"We are continually looking at improving our services for our clients and the investing public. And this partnership enables us to respond to investors' diverse investment needs," says Ms. Christine U. Yap, "We do not have to reinvent the wheel in the field of mutual fund investing, when established leaders like Sun Life are already present."