Coronation Wants More Nigerians to Embrace Balanced Funds

Nume Ekeghe

Coronation Asset Management Limited and Coronation Securities Limited have highlighted the need for more Nigerians to embrace balanced funds in a bid to preserve their investments and savings.

The financial institutions convened a panel of investment experts recently to interrogate risk and growth in Nigeria’s currently volatile, high-interest rate investment environment.

The virtual event, themed; “Best of Both Worlds from Equities and Fixed Income – a Balanced Fund,” featured an address delivered by Mounir Bouba, chief investment officer of Coronation Asset Management; and a panel of discussants made up of Sunmbo Olatunji, group treasurer of Access Bank; Dele Akintola, chief commercial officer of Alerzo; Taiwo Olatunji, head of investment vanking at Coronation Merchant Bank. It was moderated by ‘Jibola Odedina, chief executive officer of Coronation Securities as moderator.

In his welcome address, Managing director/chief executive officer of Coronation Asset Management, Aigbovbioise Aig-Imoukhuede, in a statement noted that the net asset value of Nigerian mutual funds has grown by 30.9 percent since 2012, largely driven by growth in money market funds and fixed income funds.

He noted that, however, by contrast, balanced funds which leveraged both equities and fixed income asset classes grew by 5.8 percent over the same period, accounting for only 2 percent of the net asset value of Nigeria’s mutual fund industry.

“Given the ability of balanced funds to deftly integrate risk management with growth, it was surprising, especially in the current high-risk environment characterised by value erosion and elusive growth, that more Nigerians were not considering balanced funds,” said Aigbovbioise.

In his address, Mounir explained how balanced funds successfully deliver on both growth and income objectives by investing in a portfolio of equities and fixed income securities. 

He said for average Nigerians, “balanced funds provide a one-stop shop to the acquisition and management of multiple funds, while also providing a single point to monitor them.”