Money market fund in Nigerian witnessed the highest investment of N563.9 billion as the value of mutual funds investments hit N746.5 billion in May 2019.
According to data released by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the money market fund achieved the record from funds pooled from 19 investment schemes.
There are 19 investment schemes under the fund, including: Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund (N262.66 billion), FBN Money Market Fund (N163.27 billion), United Capital Money Market Fund (N4.58 billion), AIICO Money Market Fund (N979 million), ARM Money Market Fund (N57.88 billion), Meristem Money Market Fund (N782 million), and AXA Mansard Money Market Fund (N25.73 billion).
[READ MORE: A guide to how Mutual Funds work in Nigeria]
Others are Greenwich Plus Money Market Fund (N3.24 billion), Cordros Money Market Fund (N5.83 billion), PACAM Money Market Fund (N601 million), Chapel Hill Denham Money Market Fund (N1.62 billion), Abacus Money Market Fund (N9.88 billion), EDC Money Market Fund Class A (N6.16 billion), EDC Money Market Fund Class B (N368 million), Coronation Money Market Fund (N5.82 billion), Zenith Money Market Fund (N7.52 billion), Afrinvest Plutus Fund (N596 million), Legacy Money Market Fund (N5.42 billion) and GDL Money Market Fund (N953 million).
The fund managers are: Stanbic IBTC Asset Management Limited, FBN Capital Asset Management Limited and Asset, and Resources Management Company Limited, were the top three fund managers under the money market fund.
Understanding money market fund: Money market fund, which invests only in highly liquid instruments such as cash, cash equivalent securities and high credit rating debt-based securities with a short-term maturity, offer high liquidity with a very low level of risk.
Note that mutual funds have remained relatively unknown as an investible asset class in Nigeria due to the lack of knowledge about what they are and how they work. Other factors that have made it difficult for investors to assess its performance are- lack of transparency, valuation, fees, and holdings.
As long as these constraining issues remain unresolved, the growth of mutual funds in Nigeria will continue at a snail’s speed, if not slower.