Safaricom’s backed Mali Money Market Fund (MMF) has reached Sh3 billion in assets under management as of the end of September 2024 from Sh1.3 billion a year prior, the telco disclosed in its half-year results.
Mali now ranks among the top collective investment schemes, despite the fund only launching as a pilot with a full licence still pending.
Growth for the collective investment scheme, which still runs as a closed fund with no new investors, is largely attributable to reinvestments by existing unit holders.
Safaricom pocketed Sh11.6 million in revenues from Mali during the six months, an improvement from Sh6.2 million a year prior.
The modest revenues for Safaricom, which represented about 0.36 percent of assets under management in the period, suggests a lower cut for the telco in the MMF deal that has Genghis Capital as the sole fund administrator at present.
Neither Safaricom nor Genghis Capital have disclosed the revenue-sharing model for the Mali Partnership. Safaricom has been pushing to be granted a full licence, which would bring Mali to new investors.
A full licence would also see the telco partner with additional fund managers as administrators even as Mali’s assets under management grow further from new investors.
“At Sh3 billion, we are already at the top list of collective investment schemes by assets under management. We are now expanding, and we will be making the announcement soon,” said Safaricom chief finance officer Dilip Pal.
Mali MMF would rank as the fourteenth largest collective investment scheme by asset base going by CMA disclosures as of June 30, 2024.
Mali is widely expected to rival top fund managers, including CIC, Sanlam, NCBA, and Britam, by riding on Safaricom’s customer base of over 33 million.
Mali which is linked to Safaricom’s mobile money platform M-Pesa has run as a pilot since going to market in 2019.
The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has approved Mali as a collective investment scheme, but the fund awaits licensing from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) due to its linkage to the M-Pesa ecosystem.
Mali is expected to tap both Safaricom’s backing and growing interest in money market funds among retail investors to establish itself as a top unit trust. Money market funds invest primarily in cash and near cash instruments including fixed deposits and Treasury bills.
