Commercial Union Poland Unit Trusts Company expanded its offering with two new investment funds: CU Capital Protection Plus Fund and CU Foreign Currency Fund.
Commercial Union Poland Unit Trusts Company expanded its offering with two new investment funds: CU Capital Protection Plus Fund and CU Foreign Currency Fund. Therefore clients have a choice of six different funds. CU Unit Trusts is canvassing for companies and organisations interested in the creation of Employee Pension Programmes by way of contributing to investment funds. The total assets value of CU Unit Trusts is around 1 billion Polish zloties.
CU Capital Protection Plus Fund is a low-risk fund designed to produce monthly profits largely independent of the stock market situation. The investment policy of the fund allows change in portfolio structure during periods of correction in the stock market and utilisation of investment opportunities (e.g. IPOs).
"The fund is mainly aimed at clients with bank deposits who have not taken any significant investment risk previously and are willing to invest for the next few years. It may also be attractive for companies with free resources over a medium-term investment," said Marek Przybylski, general manager of CU Unit Trusts.
The handling charge is a maximum 2.5% of the amount being paid in and the annual asset management charge is a maximum of 2.5% of net asset value. Until the end of January 2005, the handling charge will not be levied, as it is a promotional period for customers.
The investment aim of CU Foreign Currency Fund is to achieve a higher long-term income from investments denominated in foreign currencies than foreign currency investments in banks.
"The value of deposits made in foreign currencies in Polish banks exceeds 35 billion PLN. We want to reach those who are not content with the very low interest rates of such deposits by offering a more active and profitable investment. I hope that again we can gain from entering the market with an offer at the right time," said Marek Przybylski.
"The fund could also be attractive for people receiving salaries in euros or dollars and also for people paying off foreign currency loans who want to protect themselves from rate risk. Our offer also frees customers of the dilemma of whether they should invest in dollars or euros: such decisions will be made by the professionals managing the assets," added Jacek Koronkiewicz, deputy general manager of CU Unit Trusts.
The handling charge is a maximum of 1% of the amount being paid in and the annual asset management charge is a maximum of 1.75% of the net asset value. Until the end of January 2005 the handling charge will not be levied, as it is a promotional period for customers. Customers can make payments in Polish zloties, euros or dollars.
CU Unit Trusts offers companies and institutions the opportunity to create Employee Pension Programmes by way of contributing to investment funds. Customers can choose a programme based on one or more funds. According to recent amendments to the Employee Pension Programme Act, employers who currently have different methods of grouping pension capital, must undertake a decision concerning their conversion into formal Employee Pension Programmes by the end of 2004 if they don’t want social security contributions to be levied on the money paid into the programme. Within the CU Poland group, the CU Life Insurance Company also offers Employee Pension Programmes.
A specialised company, Commercial Union Investment Management (Poland) manages assets of CU Unit Trusts funds. It is authorised by the Polish Securities and Exchange Commission to manage securities portfolios and offer investment consultancy. It is the second largest asset management company in Poland by funds under management (approximately 9 billion Polish zloties at the end of September 2004 ).
For more information:
Grazyna Goslings, director of corporation communication of CU Poland Group, tel + 48 22 557 40 93,
e-mail: bohdan_bialorucki@cu.com.pl.
Additional information on Commercial Union Poland Group can be found on http://www.cu.com.pl