JB Vantage Money Market Fund affirmed A+ by ICRA

• International Credit Rating Agency assigns this rating to schemes that have an adequate degree of safety regarding timely receipt of payments from the investments that they have made
• Rating is based on JB Vantage Money Market Fund’s portfolio with the credit score being comfortable at the assigned rating level

JB Financial Ltd., a specialist asset manager, investing in a range of investment grade debt instruments, equity and gilt-edged securities received a credit risk rating of [SL]A+mfs (pronounced as Sri Lanka A plus m f s) for its JB Vantage Money Market Fund (JBMMF) recently from ICRA Lanka Ltd. 

The fund is the second largest Money Market Fund in terms of assets under management (AUM) in Sri Lanka with Rs.18.82 billion as at December 2020. The fund was initiated on 4 August 2011 and has been in existence for nearly a decade consistently outperforming the benchmark (NDBIB CRISIL 91-day T-bill Index).

Deutsche Bank AG acts as the trustee of the JBMMF, and ensures that the fund manager operates according to the investment mandate to achieve the goals and objectives while safeguarding investors’ interests. 

The fund is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission on a regular basis to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. The JBMMF has been a consistent winner at the CFA Capital Market Awards for best unit trust, winning the Gold award in 2016 and 2017 and the Bronze in 2018 and 2019.  

Speaking on the rating, Christine Dias Bandaranaike (CFA), CEO of JB Financial and Fund Manager of the JBMMF, said, “The rating reflects our solid position as a leading specialist investment manager. We have over the past few years grown the Fund’s AUM while maintaining a robust risk management framework and sound financial metrics in line with the investment mandate. The rating further signifies the relative prudence of the fund which only invests in companies which are willing to subject themselves to an external rating and are therefore transparent with their financials. As part of our investment mandate, we only invest in companies that are considered Investment Grade, that is rated BBB- and higher by an external rating agency. Investments in the BBB rated category is further restricted up to an average of 30%, while the remaining is invested in A rated and above companies in order to manage and mitigate credit risk more prudentially.”

She added, “In times of very low-interest rates as we are experiencing now, we provide investors a more lucrative alternative to traditional financial instruments such as bank and non-bank fixed deposits. The JBMMF provides investors with a higher yield than a traditional fixed deposit with the flexibility to redeem or withdraw investments as and when needed without a commitment period or a penalty.” 

The JBMMF yielded annualised returns of 11.79% for the past five years, 12.22% for the past three years and 11.41% for the past one year as of December 2020. 

JB Financial is the only Sri Lankan fund management company that is compliant with both the Asset Manager Code (AMC) and the Global Investment Performance Standard (GIPS). The Company claims compliance since 2016 and recently updated to the latest GIPS 2020 standards as well, conforming to ethical, professional and fair representation of investor performance. 

ICRA Lanka Ltd. (ICRA Lanka) is a fully owned subsidiary of ICRA Limited (ICRA) of India and is licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC). The ultimate parent company of the international Credit Rating Agency, Moody’s Investors Service, is ICRA’s indirect majority shareholder. The rating is awarded based on the expertise of the parent company driven by a rating committee comprising experienced senior executives from ICRA for a period of one year.