Partnership to Save, Invest for the Future
Here we are signing agreement with the Consumer Council of Fiji, which essentially means that the employees will now be able to save, directly from their salaries Vilash Chand Unit Trust of Fiji Chief Executive OffiCEr
Every investment partnership benefits employees when it comes to saving for the future.
On Wednesday, the Cousumer Council of Fiji (CCoF) and the Unit Trust of Fiji (UTOF) signed an Employee Investment Scheme (EIS) Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) at the CCoF headquarters. The MOA between UTOF and CCoF embarked on a new journey in financially empowering the workforce of CCoF.
EIS was initiated in the year 2014, through the conversation between UTOF chief executive officer, Vilash Chand and the regional general manager, Sakiusa Bolaira.
CCoF chief executive officer, Seema Shandil said they were at the forefront of advocating and promoting financial literacy and encouraging the culture amongst the people of Fiji, which made them start this important partnership.
“As a champion and as a promoter of financial literacy, I think we should, you know, practice what we preach,” she said.
“It is a very convenient platform that the Unit Trust of Fiji is providing to the staff of Consumer Council of Fiji to save and invest for their future, because we all know how important saving and investment is for the future of our family and the convenience that they are bringing to the doorsteps of the offices is overwhelming.”
Meanwhile, Mr Chand said this scheme allowed employees to be financially stable.
“We have 103 employer partners (CCoF being 103rd partner) with more than 34,000 employees who have access to this scheme,” he said.
He said this partnership meant that they were setting up platform for the employees, through a partnership with the employer.
“Here we are signing agreement with the Consumer Council of Fiji, which essentially means that the employees will now be able to save, directly from their salaries,” he said.
He said they were bringing the investment to the doorstep.
“We are thankful to the chief executive officer for the Consumer Council of Fiji for having that oversight and having that investment leadership,” he said.
He also said empowering the employees as well as our own people to start thinking and growing their wealth, was through a proper leadership.
“Some of the benefits we offer under this scheme is we have waived the minimum balance. So basically you can start investment as low as $1.00.
“People will enjoy the same benefits with the other investor in enjoying things like we provide a very competitive returns and our returns are tax free.”
Mr Chand said the investment with UTOF was more flexible and affordable.
“Flexibility means that it’s your investment you can decide when to come in and when to withdraw,” he added.
“You can also have multiple accounts when you have a certain deduction, you can open your children’s account, your wife’s account, your brother, sister’s account, so there is no limit to it.”