Group CEO of Databank, Kojo Addae-Mensah, has attributed the good performance of Databank’s Mutual Funds to good corporate governance.
According to him, the fixed income fund is performing well with the Mfund having the highest number of clients in the country with a 36% year-on-year increase in Assets under Management from GHC 437.14 million at the end of 2017 to GHC 595.35 million at the end of 2018.
He added that the equity mutual fund has suffered a bit because the stock market across Africa has not performed well as expected.
Mr Addae-Mensah made this known in an interview with Happy FM’s Joseph Nii Ankrah at the Annual General Meetings (AGM) for Arkfund, Bfund, Edlfund, Epack, and Mfund, held in Accra on Wednesday.
“I always say that we do our business according to the law. And I tell a lot of people who keep asking how safe it is to invest with Databank that if you do this type of business according to the law, its very unlikely that you will run into problems; most of the time, we do things that infringe on the law, we take certain risk that is not necessary and that’s how we find ourselves wanting. It’s completely due to good cooperate governance and I always say our business model is that people should walk through the door when they want their money and they get it. We don’t sell returns,“ he said.
Board chairman of Mfund, Benjamin Gogo, in his address to Mfund shareholders, stated that despite the decline in yields on short term instruments, Mfund delivered an annualized yield of 15.98%, which outperformed its benchmark, the 91-day Treasury bill which posted an average annual yield of 13.55%. Mfund closed the year with 146,173 clients representing a 36% increase in shareholders from 2017.
The fund also witnessed more than a 36% year-on-year increase in Assets under Management from GHC 437.14 million at the end of 2017 to GHC 595.35 million at the end of 2018.
Mr Addae-Mensah, who is also the Chairman of the Board of the Bfund, informed Bfund shareholders of the significant growth of fund’s assets under management from GHC 48.11 million as at December 31, 2017 to 83.68 million as at the end of December 2018. Bfund closed the year at the price of GHC 0.6199 per share, posting a return of 7.48% at the end of 2018.
On the performance of the Epark, Ghana’s first ant best performing equity mutual fund, board chairman, Keli Gadzekpo stated that Epack closed the year at GHC 3.288 per share, posting a return of -5.25%.
Despite the negative return, Epack outperformed the benchmark indices in other African countries such as the Nigerian -18% and Kenyan -18% markets. He also added that although Epack underperformed the Ghanaian benchmark index of -0.29%, Epack’s cumulative return since its inception in October 1996 is about 5.6% greater than that of the GSE over the same period, with 34,188% for Epack to 5,154% for the GSE. Epack also recorded a growth in AUM from GHC 180.33 million by end of 2017 to GHC 186.32 million by end of 2018.
Arkfund also closed the year with a return of 11.77%. The fund’s AUM also increased from GHC 15.56 million to GHC 28.21 million and increased its shareholders to 14,632 from 9,112 in 2017, representing a 60.58% increase. This is according to its chairperson Joyce Aryee.
Chairman of Ghana’s premier two-tiered educational mutual fund, Israel Titi Ofei, informed Edlfund shareholders present about the impressive performance of the fund. Edlfund tier 1, which helps Ghanaians cater for long-term educational needs, closed the year at a price of GHC 0.1899 per shares and recorded a performance of 8.32%. Shareholders for both tiers increased from a total of 16,195 in 2017 to 25,198 in 2018.