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City firm Seriani offers unit trusts as interest grows

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Seriani has set Sh5,000 as minimum investment. file photo | nmg

Nairobi-based fund management firm Seriani has joined the list of companies offering unit trusts. Chairman Ken Ndura said the firm also plans to diversify into pension fund and management, financial, wealth and estate planning.

Seriani has already received approval from the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) to offer money market fund, balanced fund and equity fund.

“The company still sees immense opportunity in the unit trust space based on the increased demand for safe and high-yielding investments.

Currently there is a huge opportunity for growth in the investment industry as we have seen the assets under management for unit trusts grow at a compounded annual growth rate of approximately 20 per cent over the last five years and similarly on the pension schemes where there has been accelerated growth to about Sh1 trillion as in June 2017,” said Mr Ndura.

Seriani general manager Victor Odendo said more people are looking at investing for the long-term and in a bid to ensure that products are affordable.

“We have fixed the minimum investment into the unit trusts at Sh5,000, which is competitive. An investor will thereafter be free to top-up their investment at their discretion with a minimum of Sh1,000,” said Mr Odendo.

He said the firm is leveraging on tactical allocations into non-traditional asset classes to extract higher returns.