As of last week, the value of fund assets offered by Commercial Union Poland - Investment Fund Company SA exceeded 500m zlotys.
As of last week, the value of fund assets offered by Commercial Union Poland - Investment Fund Company SA exceeded 500m zlotys.
The CU Investment Fund Company, which offers funds through the mediation of insurance agents, acquires more and more assets – with over 100m zlotys in July 2003. Lately, most investments coming into the fund have had a share of equity that is consistent with the trend in the capital market and which sets the Investment Fund Company apart in this market.
The company has introduced the VIP Programme for clients investing over 500 thousand zlotys and it also started collaborating with the Money.pl Internet service.
CU Investment Fund Company has been offering investment fund units since May 2002 through the mediation of specially trained CU insurance agents. At the present time, about 1,000 agents are actively selling the fund units.
The following funds with a share of equity have been leading the sales since the beginning of the second quarter of this year: CU Stable Investment and CU Polish Shares, while in the market, bond funds continue to be the most popular. CU Investment Fund Company's share on the investment fund market is about 1%, but during the past few months, the Company's share in asset acquisition has reached 5% of the entire investment fund market.
CU Investment Fund Company's share in the stable growth group (or mixed funds with a small share of equity) and aggressive funds (investing up to 100% in shares) is much higher. By the end of July of 2003, CU Stable Growth achieved 13% market share in the stable growth sector, attracting nearly a quarter of the investments coming into this group of funds in July. The situation was similar in the aggressive fund sector, with the CU Polish Shares achieving 8% of the share, attracting one third of the July payments.
Share of total individual funds in the CU Investment Fund Company by the end of July 2003:
| Fund | Percent |
| CU Deposit Plus | 4 |
| CU Bonds | 24 |
| CU Stable Investment | 40 |
| CU Polish Shares | 32 |
For comparison, safe funds, ie bonds and money market funds constituted over three quarters of the entire value of the Investment Fund Companies' market by the end of July 2003.
"The inflow of investments into the Investment Fund Company funds marvellously corresponds to the present financial market situation, ie a bull share market connected with an observed economic revival and low, long-term interest rates that limit the potential profit from bonds. The structure of our sales anticipates the market. We are pioneers of the clients' change of preference towards equity share funds. It is inevitable that this tendency will also affect the sales of other Investment Fund Company sales. The first signs of such a trend are July sales, dominated by balanced funds," said Marek Przybylski, chief executive of CU Investment Fund Company and CU Investment Management.
"The growing activity of agents offering investment funds, particularly those with an equity share, makes it possible to expect further successes in asset acquisition. Funds with an equity share are an offer requiring higher qualification and greater involvement during the sale. We are convinced that well trained CU insurance agents, who have wide experience in offering CU Group insurance investment products, have a competitive advantage in this respect. We expect that funds with an equity share will be the most popular investment products in Poland in the near future," said Jacek Koronkiewicz, deputy chief executive of CU Investment Fund Company.
CU Investment Fund Company has introduced the VIP Programme for clients investing over 500 thousand zlotys. A participant in the VIP Programme is exempt from the paying in and conversion to any funds offered by CU Investment Fund Company handling charges. Regardless of any current transaction verification, the participant in the VIP Programme receives personalised reports about completed investments that contain the CU Investment Fund Company funds' investment results, including comments by investment consultants.
Clients whose remittances to one of the investment funds exceed 1m zlotys, are entitled to receive an additional benefit in the form of additional units of participation in the fund that are added to the account each month. The VIP Programme Regulations are accessible on web page http://www.cu.com.pl
CU Investment Fund Company also started collaborating with Money.pl http://www.money.pl , the popular internet service. Internet surfers visiting this page may not only find out about the CU Investment Fund Company's offer, but they may also fill out a form to make an appointment with a CU agent, or to directly open a CU Investment Fund Company fund register.
The Company offers four investment funds, including the CU FIO Deposit Plus (money market fund), CU FIO Bonds, CU SFIO Stable Investment and CU FIO Polish Shares. The CU Investment Fund Company offer also includes the CU Individual Investment Programme – a systematic saving programme, available in both a systematic and an irregular variant as well as the "First step" version, designed to a savings account for a child. The CU Individual Investment Programme won the European Medal in April 2003.
The CU Investment Fund Company manages Commercial Union Investment Management (Poland), a specialist company, licensed to manage securities portfolios and investment consultancy work by the Securities and Exchange. At the end of June2003 Commercial Union Investment Management was managing assets totalling nearly 7.2b zlotys.
For further information please contact: Grażyna Goslings. Corporate Communications Director of the CU Poland Group, tel: +48 22 557 40 93, fax: + 48 22 557 40 26, e-mail: bohdan_bialorucki@cu.com.pl. Additional information about the Commercial Union Poland Group can also be found on the web page http://www.cu.com.pl
- All figures used in this release have been prepared on a local basis