Press Release
VIS Upgrades Fund Stability Rating of First Habib Cash Fund
Karachi, December 31, 2020: VIS Credit Rating Company Limited (VIS) has upgraded the Fund Stability Rating (FSR) of First Habib Cash Fund (FHCF) to ‘AA+ (f)’ (Double A Plus (f)) from AA (f) (Double A (f)). The previous rating action was announced on December 31, 2019.
FHCF is a money market fund with an objective to provide its investors with high liquidity and competitive returns by deploying assets in short-term debt instruments primarily through investment in cash & near cash instruments, government securities and bank deposits. The rating action incorporates updated FUND STBILITY RATING methodology which can be found on our website or on the following link https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/backupsqlvis/docs/FundstabilityRating.pdf.
The rating upgrade also constitutes change in the investment policy statement (IPS) of the fund, whereby the fund will take minimum 50% exposure in ‘AAA’ rated exposures, with the remaining exposure being in ‘AA’ and above rated instruments/placements also taking into account the change in WAM of the fund to 60 days from 90 days.
Net assets of the fund witnessed an upward trend amounting to Rs. 3.6b by end-FY20. No deviations have been observed in the actual asset allocation plan of the fund. Credit quality exposure manifests that over 55% of the fund’s assets were placed in AAA rated issue/issuer. With exposure of the fund primarily in liquid avenues and low risk profile, ability of the fund to meet redemptions is considered adequate.
For further information on this rating announcement, please contact Mr. Muhammad Tabish (Ext: 204) or the undersigned (Ext: 306) at (021) 35311861-66 or email at info@vis.com.pk.
Faryal Ahmed Faheem
Deputy CEO
Applicable Rating Criteria: Fund Stability Ratings (December 2020 https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/backupsqlvis/docs/FundstabilityRating.pdf)