Bank Muscat, the largest financial services provider in Oman, is aiming to raise up to RO38.5mn from the sultanate's first money market mutual fund. The fund, which will be open for subscription for one month from May 22, will target institutional investors and corporates and invest primarily in short-term securities with low risk. Units are priced at RO1 each and an investor will have to invest a minimum amount of RO250,000. Speaking at a press conference at the bank's head office, Ali Said Ali, DGM of asset management and private banking at Bank Muscat, said the open-ended fund will help provide businesses and institutional investors daily liquidity and returns at low risk. He said, “At Bank Muscat, we see the fund contributing to the consolidation of the national economy. “The fund will provide corporates and institutions an alternative investment vehicle to park their short-term cash surplus. “Against prevailing volatile global financial and economic conditions, the fund assumes importance as a safe cash management tool. The short-term nature of investments significantly reduces risk. The fund also offers high liquidity and yields linked to short-term interest rates." The fund will invest in call accounts, fixed deposits, murabahas, wakalas, bonds with a residual maturity of less than one year, certificates of deposit, commercial paper, money market funds, T-bills and other short-term instruments issued by banks, governments and quasi-governmental entities. The fund will invest primarily in Oman and other GCC countries. In the GCC region, there are 56 money market funds with US$14.56bn in assets under management, accounting for 52 per cent of the total funds in the region. Ali said that a significant portion of the fund's investment would be in deposits and investment instruments with less than three months' maturity. The fund will not invest in instruments that have a maturity of more than a year. The fund will invest only in instruments and securities that are denominated in any of the GCC currencies or the US dollar, Muscat Daily reported.
