“FMP Fixed Maturity Plan schemes need better portfolio disclosure”- Crisil

Crisil has asked for better disclosure of FMP (fixed maturity plan) portfolios by mutual funds

Given the recent crisis of confidence in FMPs (fixed maturity plans) among some investors, Crisil has suggested that domestic mutual funds should provide more transparent disclosure of FMP portfolios

Ideally, FMPs , with the high percentage of Government debt and AAA debt portfolios should be safe

The reason most of us invest in instruments such as Fixed Maturity Plans (FMPs) is that we think debt is absolutely safe!. In fact, most FMP offer documents suggest that the majority of investment of these fixed maturity plans is supposed to be only in high quality paper such as Government securities, AA and AAA debt.

However, rumors persist in the market that the FMP (fixed maturity plan)investment vehicle may have been abused by some mutual fund companies by investing in risky debt in areas such as real estate

Highly leveraged companies in sectors such as real estate are expected to struggle with the impending recession, consumer confidence crisis and credit crunch and there is certainly some risk of corporate debt default, leading to redemptions in select fixed maturity plans (FMPs)

FMPs (fixed maturity plans) are still a great place to invest, if one relies entirely on the offer documents

A senior executive of CRISIL says “85% of FMP portfolios are investment in AAA and P1+ rated securities”. Given this rather assuring outlook, Fixed Maturity Plans do look safer compared to other investment alternatives, despite the smaller sample size of the CRISIL study

CRISIL is right, more disclosures in Fixed Maturity Plan (FMP) portfolios is necessary for investor confidence

The better of the Fixed Maturity Plan fund managers have only to gain by disclosing their portfolios in a transparent manner , akin to open ended funds. Since it appears from the CRISIL study, that most of the Fixed Maturity Plan fund managers have been disciplined investors, it makes sense for FMPs have more transparency

Mutual Fund Managers need to quickly act to provide transparency in FMP portfolios , in view of the recent fall in consumer confidence in this investment vehicle

Are Fixed Maturity Plans (FMPs) a risky investment in today’s market?

Are Fixed Maturity Plans (FMPs) risky in today’s market?

Are Fixed Maturity Plans safe from the onslaught of the credit crunch disaster that has lead to turmoil in world markets?

In an environment where every financial investment vehicle, be it individual shares in companies, mutual funds,corporate debt and even bank deposits is now being questioned as a risky investment, can fixed maturity plans be far behind?

Fixed Maturity Plans (FMPs) have seen some redemptions by corporates in the recent past

Fixed Maturity Plans have recently seen some heavy redemptions by companies, despite the 1-2% penalty for redemption prior to the maturity date.

There are two reasons for this early redemption of FMPs by corporates

• The first reason for early Fixed Maturity plan redemption is the liquidity situation that some corporates are facing leading to defaults in corporate debt. As a result, some companies,especially in the real estate sector, are redeeming FMPs much prior to the maturity date and incurring some penalties due to early withdrawl
• The other reason for Fixed Maturity Plan redemption is largely panic! At a time, when some people are wary of even investments in public sector banks, can they trust FMPs? Some people are of the view today that the only safe investment is cash!

So, are Fixed Maturity Plans safe in this current scenario?

My personal opinion is that FMPs are reasonably safe as long as you invest in a good fund ,managed by professional managers. You may do well to check the offer document to ensure that the fixed maturity plans invest in largely Government securities and AAA corporate debt

In summary, investing in FMPs may not give the same high post tax returns as in the past due to the falling interest rates and credit crunch, but fixed maturity plans are still an important investment vehicle to consider in the current market scenario