Mutual fund manager Certinvest has decided to triple the short-term repurchase fees for its Intercapital equity fund, which was the target of speculators in the first quarter. More than half of the 13.6 million RON (3.67 million euros) decline of the fund's assets was caused by those leaving the fund.
As a precaution, KD Investments, another manager on the market, decided to raise repurchasing fees from 1.5% to 3.5% for the first sixty days for all its three mutual funds.
"We filed the necessary papers with the National Securities Commission (CNVM) to raise the repurchasing fees for the Intercapital fund to 10% for exits performed within the first 15 days," said Eugen Voicu, the chairman of asset manager Certinvest.
Until the new fees are approved by CNVM, Certinvest will continue to charge 3% repurchase fee for Intercapital, for less than 90 days. Repurchase fees on the mutual funds market are reversely proportionate to the time the units in the fund are held by investors. The longer the time spent with a fund, the lower the fees, which reach zero for repurchases made after one year.
Intercapital equity fund reported net withdrawals worth 6.8 million RON (1.84 million euros) in the first three months of the year. Intercapital posted a 12% annual yield last year, while at the end of the first quarter it posted a negative yield of 16.8%. The equity fund managed by Certinvest now holds more than 19 million RON in assets, and has a total of 2,300 investors.
The volume of inflows and outflows that Intercapital reported in February confirms the speculative behaviour on the part of investors. As a result, investor subscription with Intercapital stood at 3.48 million RON in February, while repurchases amounted to 3.46 million RON during the same interval.
"Investors do not have the reflexes of a mature market, and exit mutual funds at the
