Standard Chartered Bank Kenya has launched a multi-fund investment platform targeting wealthy investors, with assets under management reaching US$20 million within four months of its rollout.
- •The bank said its Variable Capital Company (VCC) — Signature Select — has received approval from the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), allowing eligible investors in Kenya to access a range of global investment strategies through a single structure.
- •The platform currently offers four strategies managed with global asset managers Allianz, BlackRock, T. Rowe Price and Pimco.
- •They include Enhanced Gold Income by Allianz, APAC Allocation Plus by BlackRock, US Allocation by T. Rowe Price and Global Income Plus by Pimco.
“The strategies are designed to support long-term strategic asset allocation as part of a client’s foundation portfolio,” said Edith Chumba, Head of Wealth and Retail Banking, Kenya and East Africa, Standard Chartered.
Under the arrangement, Standard Chartered selects external fund managers to run the underlying investment strategies, while its investment teams conduct manager selection and due diligence.
Standard Chartered said the platform is targeted at eligible sophisticated investors and is designed to give them exposure to different asset classes and markets without investing through separate fund structures.
Unlike a conventional single investment fund, a VCC can hold multiple funds and investment strategies under one structure, allowing the bank to add or change strategies depending on investor demand and market conditions.
The launch comes as Kenyan investors increasingly look beyond domestic assets for portfolio diversification, with the bank estimating that the country has about 7,000 US-dollar millionaires.
Across Africa, the millionaire population is projected to increase by 65 percent over the next decade, according to Standard Chartered.
The bank said the platform is part of its open-architecture investment model, under which it can select managers and products from across the global market rather than relying on a single asset manager.
