Investing in the capital market just got cheaper after Pan Africa Asset Management launched the lowest priced unit trusts in the market.
For just Ksh2,500, anyone can invest in any of its three unit trusts and start earning quarterly interests from the money. Pan Africa Management said the facility was targeting Kenya’s largely non-saving population.
“The average Kenyan does not have much appetite for investment which is why we have given them something to whet that appetite. Essentially we are targeting the common mwananchi, but we also expect that the big money will come in as well,” said Pan Africa Management CEO Kennedy Mureithi.
He added that the unit trusts which are branded Pesa+, a money fund, Pata+, a dividend fund and Chama+, a balanced fund would will go a long way to contributing to the growth of its customers’ wealth and increasing participants in our domestic capital market.
Pan Africa has kept the fees charged on investing the money at an average of 3% per annum while making it for its customers to send their Ksh1,000 minimal contributions and withdrawals via M-pesa.
The CEO said the market had so far responded well to the introduction of the low price unit trusts.
The unit funds investment option has been out of reach for the majority of Kenyans with most schemes maintaining as much Ksh50,000 as the minimum deposit amount a factor that Mr Mureithi believes has contributed to keeping the combined investment in unit trusts at only Ksh35.3 billion.
“The uptake of unit trusts remains very low, despite on average the relatively higher returns historically compared to substitute investment alternatives. In ball pack numbers, our entire unit trust industry would hardly compare to an emergent Tier 2 bank in our market,” said Mr Mureithi during the launch in a Nairobi.
Pan Africa started its Pan Africa Units Scheme division in October after receiving the requisite permits from the Capital Markets Authority and becomes the 15th scheme in the market. Kenya has 46 unit funds.
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