Slovenians enter mutual funds market

The independent mutual fund managers are starting to more seriously consider ways of distributing their fund shares on their own, as the banks, now the main distributors of the funds are getting ready to bring their own products to the market. The Slovenian-held investment manager KD Investments is preparing to open its own office to distribute its shares in Bucharest. This is but the first in a network that should span multiple cities across Romania. “We are getting ready to open our first point of sales. Our plans include a network in Bucharest and in the big cities. We want to see how this first point of sales will do for the time being,” says Ion Mincu-Radulescu, the company”s general manager. He added the main reason for the decision to go for a company-owned network was the lack of a partnership with a bank. Banca Transilvania, Banc Post and Raiffeisen Bank are preparing to enter the mutual funds market, while BCR and BRD are already there. The Slovenians at KD Investments are thinking of making money not only by boosting the value of assets they manage via the distribution network, but also from the distribution of fund shares for other fund managers, in the same way the parent company from Slovenia takes care of distribution for other funds besides its own. ZF