Nigeria’s Mutual Fund asset value grew by 50% in 2020

2020 appears to be the year with the highest growth in the value of mutual fund assets in Nigeria.

By Uche Ndimele

While the year 2020 will go down in the annals of history as one of the worst years in the history of mankind, it was not so bad for the Nigerian mutual fund industry.

Interestingly, 2020 appears to be the year with the highest growth in the value of mutual fund assets in Nigeria.

According to data from the Security and Exchange Commission, SEC, the total value of mutual funds in Nigeria stood at N1.042 trillion as at the end of 2019. The same data source now shows that as at the end of 2020, the net asset value, NAV of Nigerian mutual fund had risen to N1.572 trillion, representing an increase of 50.79%.

A deeper analysis of the industry reveals that in 2020, mutual fund contributions amounted to about N0.903 trillion while redemptions amounted to about N0.42 trillion. The same analysis points to the fact that mutual funds gathered an estimated sum of N46.7 billion in gains.

Compared to 2019, the capital activities, comprising of subscriptions and redemptions were slightly far afield. In 2019, subscriptions stood at N0.52 trillion while redemptions came up to N0.14 trillion, resulting in a net inflow of N0.38 trillion. Net inflows for 2020 stands at N0.483 trillion. Unlike in 2019, when mutual funds made an estimated gain of N9.9 billion, the N46.7 billion made in 2020, makes Corona Virus a non-issue for the industry.

Majority of the funds ended 2020 in the black, as 15, out of the 118 mutual funds on the SEC’s NAV Summary Report. The good thing about it is that no particular fund group dominated in making gains.

Although most of the funds that recorded huge gains came from the Euro Dollar category, Bond and Fixed income funds were not left behind as a whole lot of them stood out with mouth-watering gains. Out of nowhere, Stanbic IBTC Nigeria Equity fund sneaked in with some sizable gains too.

On the downside, the two funds that recorded the greatest losses came from the Real Estate Investment fund category. Apparently, the Real Estate Investment Trust funds have not been doing good. Be that as it may, it is laudable that the Nigerian mutual fund industry stood out in 2020.