Collective investment schemes savings grow for Jamaican investors

THE performance of collective investment schemes since March 2020 to date has been headlined by United States-dollar

(USD) mutual funds which outperformed Jamaicandollar (JMD) schemes by a 24 per cent margin.

In its most recent report on collective investment schemes (CIS), the Financial Services Commission (FSC) said that as at March 31, 2021 the total investments attributable to Jamaican investors in overseas funds increased by US$79.8 million or 30.44 per cent, year over year.

Total funds under management were US$342.1 million at March 31, 2021, an amount held by 9,399 investors.

During the March 2021 quarter there was an overall increase of US$7.0 million or 2.09 per cent.

Of the 10 overseas mutual funds sold to Jamaicans, Scotiabank Toronto manages three, Scotiabank & Trust

Cayman manages two, while Scotia Caribbean Income Fund is managed by Scotia Investments Jamaica Limited.

In addition, CI Investments manages four funds which are broken down into forty-five subfunds.

Locally, as at March 31, 2021, there were nineteen approved unit trusts and one mutual fund registered for sale in Jamaica.

Compared to overseas mutual funds, as at March 31, 2021 the combined funds under management for the local CIS totaled $345.5 billion, which was a year-over-year increase of $20.1 billion or 6.18 per cent and a quarterly change of $1.7 billion or 0.51 per cent.

During the March 31, 2021 quarter, combined purchases in this segment totaled $19.4 billion (December 2020: $18.1 billion) while combined redemptions totaled $19.6 billion (December 2020: $17.5 billion), resulting in net redemption of $183.9 million (December 2020: $643 million – net purchases).

Overall, capital appreciation in the assets in the investment portfolios was $1.9 billion.

The funds for the local CIS were invested in three main asset classes as at March

31, 2021, with fixed income securities amounting to 66.65 per cent of the total assets.

Of the nineteen approved local unit trusts, 18 have commenced operations while Stocks & Securities Limited Unit Trust Scheme has not commenced operations.