NDB Aviva’s Eagle Gilt Edged Fund rated AAA

ICRA Lanka Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of ICRA Ltd., an associate of Moody’s Investors Service, has assigned a credit risk rating of ‘[SL] AAAmf’ to NDB Aviva Wealth Managements Eagle Gilt Edged Fund. The rating indicates that the underlying portfolio has the lowest credit risk and the highest degree of safety from credit losses. This rating scale ranks the relative default risk associated with issuers / debt / schemes in Sri Lanka, which is a first in the growing Sri Lankan financial landscape.

The Eagle Gilt Edged Fund is part of the ‘myeaglefunds’ family of mutual funds, and is managed and marketed by NDB AVIVA Wealth Management. Launched in December 1997, the Eagle Gilt Edged Fund has a track record of 15 years and is focused on maximising returns from investments in government securities and government guaranteed securities.

‘The fund has been very popular with clients and has captured substantial amount of deposits which was around Rs 4,552 million as at December 2011,’ said Prabodha Samarasekera, the CEO of NDB Aviva Wealth Management. He further said the fund was ideally suited for persons who would consider keeping their savings in bank savings accounts and did not like to take risks.

Also, the fund pays out income to depositors quarterly, making it ideally suited for persons planning on having an attractive and regular retirement income. Income from Eagle Gilt Edged fund is tax free and this has been a factor for the high level of demand for it by the corporate sector, which pays high rates of taxes on their income from bank deposits. Savers can enter and leave the Eagle Gilt Edged fund anytime.

The NDB Aviva Wealth Management is a joint venture between National Development Bank Plc, the only true universal bank in Sri Lanka, and Aviva group, the sixth largest insurance group in the world.

The NDB Aviva Wealth Management is the largest private sector fund management company in Sri Lanka with around Rs 50 billion of assets under management as at December 2011 and is licensed with and regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) as a Unit Trust Management Company.