UTC's TT Fund crosses $11b

THE Unit Trust Corporation's (UTC) Growth and Income Fund has crossed $5 billion for the first time in its 37-year history. The announcement was made by UTC's executive director Nigel Edwards as he appraised members at an annual general meeting yesterday.

"As at April 30, 2019 the funds under management for the Growth and Income Fund stood at TT$5.2 billion," Edwards said.

He also painted a positive picture for the future of UTC by adding that distribution payments to unit holders went up by 26.3 per cent when compared to 2017. This means that UTC paid about $249.3 million to unit holders in 2018.

"We increased the distribution to unit holders in the Growth and Income Fund by 117.2 per cent from $36 million in 2017 to $78.7 million – a performance we can be proud of."

This was just another event in a very successful year for UTC, as Edwards also revealed that growth in total assets for the company were $22 billion. The mutual fund portfolios also performed very well, he continued.

"The TT Dollar Income Fund also saw a significant first earlier this year, crossing the $11 billion mark for the first time in its history. As at April 30, 2019, the TT Dollar Income Fund has surpassed our targets, climbing to $11.3 billion."

Some of the profit that the UTC has enjoyed may have come about because of the closure of the North American Fund (NAF), which had not been performing well.

"We also took the strategic decision to close the NAF in December 2018, recognising that it had not grown sufficiently since its inception in 1993, and as such, it became expensive and negatively impacted the returns to our unit holders."

Edwards also mentioned that the lack of availability of US dollars had affected members negatively, as UTC would no longer be accepting US-dollar third-party cheques. He also reminded members that UTC may not be able to offer much US currency.

"Another issue I wish to raise is the limited availability of foreign currency. Unlike commercial banks, UTC is not a primary dealer of foreign exchange, and as such, we are not in receipt of an allocation from the Central Bank. Our supply of US dollars is dependent on what we purchase from customers and what is bought from other financial institutions."

As UTC continues to perform well the organisation has also received a high credit rating from the Caribbean Information and Credit Rating Services Ltd. This rating will help UTC to have a better level of creditworthiness, he added.