Nigeria Stock Exchange, Lagos
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), on Tuesday admitted 50 million units of the Abacus Money Market Fund, at the price of N100.00 on its platform.
The ABACUS Money Market Fund is an open-ended unit trust scheme particularly suited for investors seeking for preservation of capital and short-term return.
The Abacus Money Market Fund was authorised and registered by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), on November 28, 1990, as Abacus Unit Trust Scheme.
Investment One Funds Management Limited, was later appointed by the Trustee and approved by SEC in 2014, to act as fund manager to the fund.
The Managing Director, Investment One Asset Management Limited, Mrs. Tope Omojokun, stressed the need for increased retail investors’ participation in mutual funds, noting that the pool of investment the asset class offers gives investors steady capital appreciation on the fund.
“The fund is one of the oldest mutual funds in the country, we got approval from SEC, of course having gotten approval from the trustees to convert that form to a money market, and that is what we are listing at the exchange today.
“That was after we had our EGM in December 2016. It is SEC regulated fund, then we started selling the fund, and today, 150 million has become N5.3billion in the space of 12 months because we reach out to retail investors of course we have institutional investors as well and with the listing, it allows us have access to more retail investors because any fund listed in NSE gives you some form of clouts and some backings.”
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She decried the low retail investors’ participation in mutual fund in Nigeria, attributing it to shallow knowledge of these asset classes by investors.
“There is a need for retail investors to participate in mutual funds. They do not have much time to monitor investment, For Abacus Money Market Fund; we have a fund manager, who has a mandate to ensure that those things you are supposed to invest in are done properly, then watch the market to take position to your favour.
“The benefit in mutual fund is capital appreciation. We save in government instruments: certificates of deposit, commercial papers, treasury bills, and we have commercial papers. This fund has A+ rating. Mutual fund has grown from 213 billion in 2016, to over 400 billion in 2017.
“But in terms of retail participation, there is still a gap, and that we said is because of the gap in the need for investors’ education. A lot of people still engage in the ‘do it yourself’ strategy. The difference between money market like this and the ‘I can fixed it myself’ is that it is open ended, the only lock up period is 30 days.
“The fund manager must take you out, after your 30 days locking period. There is free entry and exit, but if you have a tend investment you have to wait till it expires, and because we are pooling funds and investing as a collective investment scheme, you benefit from the pool for capital appreciation.”
The Chairman of the company, Mrs Tony Ibeziaku, urged investors to leverage the renewed investors’ confidence in the nation’s capital market and invest in asset classes that guarantee sustained capital appreciation.
“This is the best time to invest in mutual funds. You can invest in stocks, treasury bills, and commercial papers. What you do is to try and balance the risks and the returns so that we keep attracting more money to the Fund.”
Source: G Business
