UBL Fund Managers helping Consumers with their Investments

Monday, May 23, 2016 Heba Moeen 1 Comments


Last Friday, a few of the city's bloggers were invited for a highly informative session with Umber T. Ansari, Head of Marketing and Distribution and Ammar Valika, Head of Sales Strategy of UBL Fund Managers. Given the depth of Financial discussion which usually flies over my cerebral hemispheres, these very well spoken company representatives did a great job at explaining the concept of mutual funds, not to mention, Umber's and Ammar's confident demeanour that seemed to be the perfect fit for the job they are doing. 

As far as the information about UBL Fund Managers goes, the first thing that one must know is that it's a subsidiary of United Bank Limited (UBL) and works as a separate entity. Therefore, what might become frustrating for UBL Fund Managers' social media team is getting complains and queries about the bank so please know that they operate on a different capacity altogether. 

UBL Fund Managers was founded in 2001 and manages a product portfolio of 14 open ended  funds, out of which 6 are Shariah compliant, 4 belong to fund schemes, that too are Shariah compliant, two are Voluntary Pension Schemes (1 is Shariah compliant). Given, the entity's worth and credibility, it is is ranked amongst the largest Asset Management Companies in the private sector in Pakistan and manages assets worth approximately Rs. 64.52 Billion (as of April 2016). It serves over 20,000 institutional and individual clients and has been ranked Number 1 in 'Top of Mind' recall survey by AC Nielsen, meanwhile, the award of 'High Management Quality' rating AM2++ by JCR-VIS Credit Rating Company is the highest given to an AMC in Pakistan which the UBL Fund Managers has acquired. Adding up to its laurels, it recently won PASHA ICT Award 2015 for 'Best in Service Innovation'.

Quite a number of common myths prevail, one of them being the thought that one has to have a truck load of money to be able to invest, however, that's not true. The animated video below explains these myths and investment tactics in a few simple steps. It picks an example of an innovator or early adopter and compares with a laggard:


Also, UBL Fund Managers explains that you can save taxes by investing in mutual funds. Yes, that was a revelation for us too as hardly anyone is aware about this fact. According to them, you can avail up to 20% discount on taxes by investing in mutual funds. The next video of the entire series explains it further:


And here's a comparison - Savings versus Inflation, I liked this video the most, inflation is a grotesque green monster that depreciates the value of your money, this naughty monster! We all must know the time value of money in practical terms, something we were taught way back in business school ... NVP, Capital Gains and what not. Finance was the monster back then but it's always good to have an understanding of some basic key concepts!:


"In USA, mutual fund investments are 150% of bank accounts in terms of size, whereas, in Pakistan, this figure is documented at lower than 9%," said Ammar Valika while explaining the concept of mutual funds and their significance to anyone save, "mutual funds are actually for everyone who can afford to put aside some money for whatever their savings goals or future financial needs are, because there is a diverse array of mutual fund types that can cater to almost all types of investors to help achieve their goals." While explaining the need to invest in mutual funds, he further explained, "there is a large number of people that is oblivious about potential investment opportunities, by investing with professional fund managers they can improve their financial position. Similarly, mutual funds provide investors with diversification and customised portfolios. What's interesting is that the same products are available on the same terms to all investors ( being a key feature of all mutual funds). Furthermore, investments in mutual funds in Pakistan allow you to obtain tax credit against your tax paid for the year, therefore, addition to the returns you make on your portfolio, you also reduce your tax burden."

Given the gadget savvy world we live in today, UBL Fund Managers leaped a step ahead and became the first AMC in Pakistan to introduce a mobile app for mutual funds known as the UBL Funds Smart Savings. Now, knowing about mutual funds is one thing and being able to use a related app for it is an interesting development altogether. 

UBL Fund Managers Smart Savings simple and fast paced user interface enables ease of access and use. The high end features enable the end user to:
  • track his/her investment portfolio
  • access multiple accounts
  • make transactions/withdrawals, and conversions from one scheme to another
  • locate nearest Investment Centers along with contact details
  • contact UBL Funds Toll Free number directly or Message Your Advisor
  • setup a meeting with UBL Fund Managers' advisors (for non-clients) 
  • update profile details such as contact details, email, mailing address etc

  • download/View Account Statements - a total of 8 reports/statements are available for download 




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