Deposits paired with investments in fund units are gaining ground, as bankers are looking for solutions to persuade customers to save more money.
Raiffeisen and Raiffeisen Asset Management (RAM), launched a package that allows customers to invest in fund units and at the same time get access to a regular three-month deposit, with fixed interest.
Thus, a person investing at least 2,000 RON in fund units has the option to set up a RON-denominated three-month deposit, for which Raiffeisen Bank offers a fixed interest rate of 10% per annum. The maximum sum of the deposit cannot be bigger than the sum invested in fund units.
Raiffeisen is the second player after Bancpost to launch such a product in less than two months. This year, both financial groups have created asset management firms operating several investment funds.
Bancpost offers a similar package, which lets customers place 90% of the sum in a fixed-interest six-month deposit and 10% of their investments in fund units. The minimum sum that must be deposited stands at 1,000 RON.
"In the future, the markets of the new EU members will come to register an important weight of investments in funds in the population's total financial assets, with this weight currently standing in the case of mature EU members at approximately 30%," said Mihai Ion, RAM chairman. At present, though, investments in funds account for only a small part of the assets held by the Romanian population, of less than 1%, which bankers see as growth potential once confidence in the financial domain builds up.
Raiffeisen Prosper equity fund has registered a yield of around 13% since it was launched in July. Thus, people who invested 2,000 RON three months ago in units of this fund should have now derived a gain of 260 RON. The other fund, Raiffeisen Benefit, has advanced by 7% since it was launched.
Bancpos
