(MENAFN - Muscat Daily) The money-market fund launched by bank muscat Asset Management has evoked a strong response, exceeding the initial target. The investment vehicle offers an alternative for corporates and financial institutions to park their short-term cash surplus with low risk, daily liquidity and ease of operation, the bank said in a press release.The open-ended fund currently invests mainly in call accounts, fixed deposits, certificates of deposit issued by top banks in Oman and other GCC countries. The current yield on the fund is around 1.1 per cent per annum net of all fees, which is significantly higher than the call deposit rates in Oman.Ali Said Ali, DGM - asset management and private banking, said, ''bank muscat is proud to successfully launch the money-market fund which serves as a safe cash management tool with higher returns. The bank's strong investment process strengthens the fund and makes available to investors in Oman a new type of instrument previously available only in international markets. We are thankful to corporates and financial institutions who have endorsed the fund.''The fund's short-term nature of investments significantly reduces the element of risk. The fund also offers high liquidity and yields linked to short-term interest rates. If short-term interest rates in the general economy go up, so do yields on the fund.The minimum investment in the open-ended fund is RO250,000. Significant investment by the fund would be in deposits/instruments with less than three months' maturity. The fund will not invest in instruments having maturity of more than one year.The entities or instruments in which the fund invests should be rated investment grade by credit rating agencies such as Standard & Poor's, Moody's, Fitch or Capital Intelligence. The fund will invest only in instruments/securities that are denominated in any GCC currency or the US dollar.Investment in deposits outside Oman will not exceed 50 per cent of the fund size and not more than 15 per cent of the fund's net asset value will be in deposits of any single entity outside Oman.
