Prime Finance Asset Management’s rejoinder and our explanation
Prime Finance Asset Management Company Ltd, in a rejoinder to our stock page news "Asset manager Prime Finance's 3 mutual funds under BSEC scanner" published on Wednesday, claimed that the article published several misleading and wrong information.
The term "the funds in question" was challenged by the asset manager.
It said "As we understand that it is a routine work of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) to follow up the workings and performances of the asset managers in the mutual fund industry. As per the Enquiry Order, BSEC will examine our workings and will review the financial documents over a set period of time. They have not declared our performance questionable yet."
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Hence, in our opinion the statement in the article is misleading and will have a negative impact on the mind of readers, unit holders as well as the overall mutual fund industry.
The asset manager also expressed its objection against only mentioning the target size of the fund during formation, instead of the actual amount it ultimately raised.
Mentioning fund size of fiscal year 2010 and only the total investment in securities at the end of March this year gives readers an impression that the remaining amounts are idle whereas the actual fund raised initially and under management now is different, the company alleged.
It also mentioned that Prime Financial First Unit Fund, in fact, paid a 17% dividend for the fiscal year 2021, while Rupali Life Insurance First Mutual Fund's 0.7% dividend was for the fiscal year 2023.
Actual size of the funds at the end of March 2023 was Tk18 crore for Prime Financial First Unit Fund, Tk21 crore for the Prime Financial Second Mutual Fund and Tk32 crore for the Rupali Life Insurance First Mutual Fund, it added.
Our reply
The phrase "In question" only meant the subject mutual funds, not anything questionable to the regulator.
Target size of the funds was picked from the fund prospectus and the reporter did not mean to mislead anyone by mentioning the latest figures on investments in securities.
We do regret the clerical mistake related to the dividends.
