“Invest while you save! SC Shilingi funds help you to invest your daily, weekly, or monthly savings in short-term money market funds that give an attractive rate of return,” Standard Chartered Bank Kenya says, but when you get down to it, many people don’t know what this SC Shilingi Funds is and how it works:
SC Shilingi Funds is one of the investment products by Standard Chartered Bank Kenya. Precisely, it is a Unit Trust Investment.
In simple terms, a unit trust is a form of investment fund that pools together funds from multiple investors into a single fund managed by one fund manager who aims to achieve a specific return within a given duration of time to be able to pay investors dividends, interest income or capital gains.
On their side, these fund managers of unit trusts make money by investing in well-performing assets such as treasury bills, government bonds, corporate bonds, and shares, among many other assets of different classes – for example, the money market funds – to spread and reduce the risk.
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Unit investment trusts buy a fixed portfolio of securities and allow investors to redeem their “units,” similar to a mutual fund, Investopedia outlines.
How does SC Shilingi Funds work in Kenya?
As stated, because unit trusts, of which SC Shilingi Funds is one, provide access to a range of investments, that diversification makes it a low-risk option for investors who want a reliable and consistent income stream with a potential increase in returns over time.
In Kenya, the SC Shilingi Funds is available only to Standard Chartered Bank customers because, to start investing, it requires access to the lender’s mobile application called SC Mobile Kenya App, which enables the buying and selling of the Fund’s units.
“No paperwork is required as it is done directly from your SC Mobile App,” the bank says.
So, as a beginner, assuming you have opened an account with Standard Chartered Bank, follow these steps to start investing in SC Shilingi Funds now;
1. Download the SC Mobile Kenya App from PlayStore or Apple Store
2. Open the app and enter your bank account details to log in
3. Click on the Investments tab
4. Choose SC Shilingi Funds
5. Start investing
How much do you need to invest in SC Shilingi Funds?
Standard Chartered Bank Kenya requires the first purchase of its unit trusts at SC Shilingi Funds to be at least Ksh500. But afterwards, the size of increments or additional investments is at the individual investor’s discretion.
You should note that SC Shilingi Funds has zero upfront charges for investments and withdrawals. However, at the end of every maturity period, the investor is charged fund management fees that are mostly below 2%.
Remember to ask for all fees and commissions in writing.
What is the interest rate of SC Shilingi Funds? (2024)
In the financial industry, unit investment trusts, like SC Shilingi Funds, incorporate income shares distributed to investors either as interest or dividends monthly, quarterly, bi-annually or annually when they make income declarations.
The income shares are usually displayed as a percentage to show the rate of return you can earn on your investment in a given year.
Currently, the returns of SC Shilingi Funds is a precise 14.93% effective annual rate such that if you invest, for instance, Ksh100,000 as the initial and final investment amount, you will get an exact Ksh114,934.20 at the end of one year.
If you put in a million shillings at once without making additional regular deposits, at the end of 12 months, the investment value will be Ksh1,149,342.03 upon adding the Ksh149,342.03 total interest earned.
To achieve better than inflation returns, you can risk locking your cash for two years or more for maximum capital appreciation only if you are comfortable with lower potential returns because of the forces of supply and demand that even affect market trends and liquidity in the investment landscape.
