LRA Assigns Initial Stability Rating to Ceylon Money Market Fund

The primary objective of the Ceylon Money Market Fund ("the Fund”) is to offer risk-adjusted returns to its clients by investing in short-term investment grade rated (BBB- and higher) fixed-income securities.
The fund portfolio composition includes Non-Bank Financial Institutions (~64.0%), Commercial Papers (~16.9%), Reverse Repos (~13.5%), and Treasury Bills (~4.8%). As of May 2024, the Weighted Average Maturity (WAM)stood at 131 days. The Fund reported a return of 6.1% during the first quarter which is higher than the peer average (5.7%). Future returns are subject to market conditions. 75.16% of the portfolio comprises A rated and above corporate debt instruments and Treasury Bill investments while (~24%) is invested in investment grade rated (BBB-) and above corporate debt instruments as of May 2024. The Fund adheres to its approved investment policy and market expectations and is expected to continue the same, going forward. Any significant changes in the asset allocation, credit risk, duration, maturity profile, or returns compared to the peers will have an impact on the fund rating.

About the Entity
The managing company, Ceylon Asset Management Co. Ltd (CAM) is licensed under the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka Act, No. 19 of 2021. CAM is an Associate Company of Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation. CAM operates eight Collective Investment Schemes (Unit Trust Funds) out of which seven are rupee-denominated namely Ceylon Money Market Fund, Ceylon Treasury Income Fund, Ceylon Income Fund, Ceylon IPO Fund, Ceylon Financial Sector Fund, Ceylon Index Fund, Ceylon Tourism Fund. The Trustee and Custodian Bank of the LKR Funds are Hatton National Bank (HNB). CAM manages the only USD denominated Sovereign Bond Fund, formally known as Ceylon Dollar Bond Fund (CDBF) that exclusively invests in Sri Lanka International Sovereign Bonds issued by the Government of Sri Lanka. The Trustee and Custodian Bank of Ceylon dollar Bond fund is Deutsche Bank AG Colombo. The total assets under management (AUM) of the Company were approximately LKR 13 billion, out of which Ceylon Money Market Fund reported an AUM of approximately LKR 2 billion as of May 2024. The fund reported a year to date net return of 11.73%p.a. and the fund AUM surpassed LKR 4 Bn as of August 2024.
Mr. Dulindra Fernando has been the Managing Director of CAM since January 2009. Previously, he served as the Chief Executive Officer at MAS Investments. Mr. Dulindra Fernando is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Monash University.