Press Release

VIS Reaffirms Fund Stability Rating of NIT Islamic Money Market Fund

Karachi, December 22, 2023: VIS Credit Ratings Company Ltd. (VIS) has reaffirmed Fund Stability Rating (FSR) of NIT Islamic Money Market Fund (“NIT IMMF” or “the Fund”) to ‘AAA(f)’ (Triple A (f)). FSR of AAA depicts highest degree of stability in NAV. Risk is negligible with very low sensitivity to changing economic conditions. The previous rating action was announced on December 29, 2022.
NIT Islamic Money Market Fund is an open end Shariah compliant money market fund launched in September 2021 managed by National Investment Trust Limited (NIT). The fund’s objective is to provide competitive return by primarily investing in low risk and highly liquid Shariah Compliant Money Market & Debt Instruments. The fund’s portfolio duration is capped at 90 days.
Net Assets of the fund grew to Rs. 7.5b as at Jun’23 compared to Rs. 2.6b as at Jun’22. Ratings takes into account change in credit quality of the fund wherein investments in AA rated securities have increased to 13.1% in FY23 compared to 4.2% in FY22 which resulted in reduction of average investment in AAA rated securities to 78.0% in FY23 compared to 88.3% in FY22. Consequently, some pressure is seen on rating, however, as per the management’s commitment, the proportion of AA rated investments will decrease during the coming months.
On asset allocation front, the fund remained within the parameters of the offering document while AUMs are primarily invested in cash and short-term sukuks. The fund’s average liquid assets declined from 95.6% in FY22 to 82.8% in FY23. As of June 2023, the fund’s investors are predominantly composed of investors from the retail sector and the remaining being unrelated corporates. Top-10 investors accounted for nearly 60% (Sep’22: 72%) of the total AUMs. Performance of the fund is benchmarked against 3-month average Deposit rate of three AA rated Islamic Banks or Islamic windows of Conventional Banks as selected by MUFAP. The fund generated return of ~16.95% in FY23 outperforming the benchmark return and has been placed in the second quartile when compared to peers. Going forward, rating will remain dependent on improving credit quality in investment portfolio while maintaining healthy liquidity and competitive returns.
For further information on this ratings announcement, please contact Mr. Muhammad Amin Hamdani (Ext: 217) or the undersigned (Ext: 208) on 021-35311861-64 or email at info@vis.com.pk.



Syed Asif Ali
Executive Director

Applicable Rating Criteria: Fund Stability Ratings
https://docs.vis.com.pk/docs/-FundstabilityRating.pdf

VIS Issue/Issuer Rating Scale
https://docs.vis.com.pk/docs/VISRatingScales.pdf

Information herein was obtained from sources believed to be accurate and reliable; however, VIS Credit Rating Company Limited (VIS) does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information.VIS , the analysts involved in the rating process and members of its rating committee do not have any conflict of interest relating to the rating(s)/ranking(s) mentioned in this report.VIS is paid a fee for most rating assignments. This rating/ranking is an opinion and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any securities. Copyright 2023 VIS Credit Rating Company Limited . All rights reserved. Contents may be used by news media with credit to VIS .