
Hanfa issues approval for two money market funds – Eurizon HR Cash UCITS and InterCapital Euro Money Market ETF UCITS
They will be the first new money market funds (MMFs) in the Croatian market since the last one ceased operations in January 2021.
We are, therefore, urging retail investors to familiarise themselves with all the characteristics of these funds and the related investment risks before investing.
At yesterday's meeting of the Board, the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (Hanfa) approved the establishment and management of two open-ended investment funds with public offering, as standard money market funds with variable net asset value.
The authorisations were issued to the company Eurizon Asset Management Croatia d.o.o. for Eurizon HR Cash open-ended investment fund with public offering, and to the company INTERCAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT d.o.o. for InterCapital Euro Money Market UCITS ETF as a new sub-fund of the umbrella fund InterCapital Krovni UCITS ETF.
This is a novelty on the Croatian UCITS market. On 21 July 2018, the so-called MMF Regulation[1] started to apply, and it introduced uniform rules in relation to MMFs and important changes in their operations, licensing and supervision. Since then, only one UCITS operated as an MMF in accordance with this Regulation and ceased operations on 22 January 2021.
Therefore, upon successful completion of the initial offers, the said UCITS - Eurizon HR Cash open-ended investment fund with public offering and InterCapital Euro Money Market UCITS ETF - will be the sole MMFs on the Croatian investment funds market.
More details about the approval issued for each of these funds can be found in Hanfa Decisions.
MMFs are used as a short-term cash management tool that offers a high level of liquidity and diversification and a stable value of the principal invested combined with a market-based yield.
The specificity of MMFs, as a separate type of investment funds, is reflected in the combination of their objectives and the type of assets in which they invest. Their objectives are to offer returns in line with money market rates and/or preserve the value of an investment.
While the achievement of these objectives is not guaranteed and an investment in MMFs differs from an investment in deposits, with the existing risk of capital loss being borne by the investor, MMFs pursue their objectives by investing in short-term and highly liquid assets in accordance with specific requirements set out in the Regulation, that are more stringent relative to other investment funds.
We would like to draw the attention of all potential investors to familiarise themselves with all the characteristics of these funds and the related investment risks prior to investing, and to regularly monitor all notifications made by MMF management companies, especially on websites, in order to get acquainted with all changes and operating conditions of the funds in a timely manner and thus make sound investment decisions.
[1] The MMF Regulation was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 30.6.2017 and entered into force on 20.7.2017, but the vast majority of its provisions became applicable on 21.7.2018, with the exception of several provisions that entered into force on 20.7.2017.