A Safaricom's M-Pesa app user. FILE PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NMG
Total assets managed by the Safaricom-backed unit trust scheme, Mali hit Sh1.4 billion in the year ended December 2023, new disclosures show.
A unit trust is typically a collective investment packaged under a trust deed and run by a professional fund manager. A fund manager may choose to invest in bonds or shares on the stock market, and the fund is split into units, which investors purchase—granting them access to mortgages, securities, mortgages, and cash equivalents.
It is the first time that the M-Pesa-based collective investment scheme has revealed its portfolio since launching in 2019 with Genghis Capital as the fund administrator.
The entry of the unit trust scheme has helped to raise the fund manager’s total assets under management (AUM) to Sh2 billion, with Genghis-owned Gencap Hela Imara Fund adding another Sh609.8 million at the end of last year.
Read: Safaricom to launch unit trust, new savings service
From Mali, Genghis Capital generated Sh104.5 million in total income, the bulk of which represents interest income at Sh101.6 million.
Safaricom's earnings from the Mali fund were not immediately clear.
About 61 percent of Mali’s assets were invested in fixed deposit accounts or Sh885.4 million while government securities, short-term or call deposits, and corporate bonds held the balance of assets at Sh294.8 million, Sh262.8 million, and Sh4.5 million, respectively.
The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) approved fund allows M-Pesa customers to invest in unit trusts from as low as Sh100 and earn interest rates calculated daily.
The service is available to both smartphone and feature phone users via the M-Pesa app and the *334# USSD code.
Customer deposits and withdrawals from the Mali account are free but the minimum investment amount is set at Sh100 with the minimum withdrawable amount at Sh10.
Interest earned from the Mali account attracts withholding tax at the rate of 15 percent as is the case for earnings from other collective investment schemes or unit trusts.
Genghis Capital Limited provides fund management and administration services to the fund. The CMA-licensed investment bank, however, did not disclose its revenue-sharing model with Safaricom.
SBM Bank Kenya offers custodial services to the fund which generates revenues primarily from fund management fees.
Custodian, trustee, and marketing fees are meanwhile charged to the fund as operating expenses.
Read: Sh75bn tax bill stalls M-Pesa split from Safaricom
In 2023, the fund recorded Sh28.3 million as operational and administrative expenses.
Mali forms part of a growing collective investment scheme ecosystem that is made up of 36 entities managing 135 distinct funds, according to disclosures by the CMA as of December 2023.
The fund’s assets under management stood at Sh215 billion as of the end of last year.
→ kmuiruri@ke.nationmedia.com
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