Press Release
VIS Reaffirms Fund Stability Rating of BMA Empress Cash Fund
Karachi, December 31, 2020: VIS Credit Rating Company Limited has reaffirmed the Fund Stability Rating (FSR) of BMA Empress Cash Fund (BECF) at ‘AA+ (f)’ (Double A Plus (f)). The previous rating action was announced on December 26, 2019.
BECF operates as an open-end money market scheme investing in low risk short term money market instruments while maintaining a high level of liquidity. Given the restrictions on weighted average time to maturity (WAM) and asset allocation, the fund’s exposure to various sources of risk is expected to remain low. In order to comply with the stipulated requisites of the fund’s offering document, the fund is required to invest in securities with a minimum credit quality rating of AA with which it complied throughout the year. During the period under review, WAM and modified duration of the fund remained within the specified limits.
Net assets of the fund declined during FY20 closing at 100m as of the preceding year (FY19:167m) On an average basis, the fund managed to preserve 84% of its assets in AAA rated issue issuer while the remaining was placed in AA+ rated instruments. More than 75% of the fund’s assets remained concentrated in T-bills and 22% in its cash balances.
For further information on this rating announcement, please contact Mr. Muhammad Tabish (Ext: 204) or the undersigned (Ext: 301) at 35311861-70 or email at info@vis.com.pk
Faheem Ahmad
President & CEO
Applicable rating criteria: Fund Stability Ratings (December 2020)
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/backupsqlvis/docs/FundstabilityRating.pdf