Stanbic Bank Kenya has entered asset management through its newly established Insurance and Asset Management Unit, with plans to introduce more investment products.
- •On Tuesday, the bank launched the Stanbic Money Market Fund (KES) and the Stanbic Fixed Income Fund (USD) following approval by the Capital Markets Authority earlier this year.
- •The funds will be managed by SBG Securities Limited, a subsidiary of Stanbic Holdings Plc.
- •The funds currently provide an annualized yield of 15.12% for the Money Market Fund (KES) and 5.56% for the Fixed Income Fund (USD).
“To drive growth, we must mobilise domestic savings and investments by strengthening our capital markets and developing investment products that cater to our people’s needs. Our Asset Management unit is strategically positioned to deliver investment solutions that drive growth for both retail and institutional investors,” Joshua Oigara, Stanbic Bank Chief Executive Kenya and South Sudan said.
The funds will have minimum investments of Kshs 1000 and USD 100, and will cater to both individual and institutional investors. The Money Market Fund charges up to 2% in management fees, while the Fixed Income Fund charges up to 1%.
Stanbic is entering into a competitive space with multiple players who collectively manage KShs. 254.06bn as at the end of June 2024.
Data from the Capital Markets Authority shows that the largest chunk of assets under management was invested in government securities at 39.2 percent with fixed deposits taking up 33.4 percent. The rest was invested in cash and demand deposits(13.9%), Listed securities (9.3%), Unlisted securities (3.3%), Immovable property (0.4%), other CIS (0.3%) and Off-shore investments (0.2%).
Investment in listed securities saw the sharpest increase of 523 percent to KSh 23.7 billion invested in the same during the review period. However, Unit trust funds reduced their investments in government securities by 7 percent to KSh 99.7 billion from KSh 107.6 billion in March 2024.
A Collective Investment Scheme (CIS) is an investment vehicle where money is pooled together from investors and invested in a wide range of assets and the portfolio collectively managed by a professional fund manager.