Unit trusts up to Sh76bn as CIC holds top position

Assets managed by unit trusts rose by 6.6 percent in the quarter to last December to hit Sh76.1 billion as CIC held to the top position.

Slightly more than half of the assets under management (AUM) were in government securities – reflecting a bias for risk-free holdings – while the smallest proportion was in immovable property such as land and houses.

“In the review period, the total asset under management by the CIS [collective investment schemes or unit trusts] amounted to Sh76.10 billion, being a 6.58 percent increase from Sh71.40 billion reported in the previous period (Q3, 2019),” the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) said in its latest quarterly report.

CIC scheme retained the highest amount managed at Sh29.7 billion, although it had modest growth of 8.03 percent during the period.

“CIC Unit Trust Scheme managed the highest AUM of Sh29.72 billion which represents 39.05 percent of the total AUM. The least portion of the total AUM at Sh5.26 million is managed by Coop Trust which started operations in quarter two, 2019,” said the CMA.

“In the quarter ended December 2019, 52.10 percent of the total assets under management was invested in government securities. The government securities include Treasury bonds, treasury bills and infrastructure bonds. The least amount of the AUM at 0.452 percent was invested in immovable property.”

The unit trusts invested 26.3 percent in fixed deposits, 12.1 per cent in listed securities, 3.7 percent of all their holdings in unquoted securities, 2.7 percent in cash and demand deposits, 2.3 percent was in other collective investment schemes, 0.8 percent was in offshore investments while the rest was in immovable property.

Cytonn Money Market Fund, Zimele and Sanlam unit trust schemes led in the growth of assets during the period at 67.4, 50 and 37 percent, respectively. These were Coop Trust which shrank by half to Sh5 million from Sh10 million at the end of the previous quarter.

Equity Investment Bank scheme contracted by 17.7 percent to about Sh420 million while Amana Unit trust reduced by 4.8 percent to about Sh590 million. Old Mutual’s fell 0.5 percent to stand about Sh6.25 billion.