NDK Asset launches index to track public securities
NDK Asset Management Limited, an institutional asset manager, has launched an index to track and provide information on secondary trading for publicly issued medium and long-term debt securities.
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The index, the NDK Aggregate Bond Index (NDK-ABI), is to also track the pricing trend of those securities and in the process provide investors, fund managers, trustees and other stakeholders a benchmark for future investments.
The launch of the index was in conjunction with the Central Securities Depository (CSD) and it will be computed daily using prices provided by the depository on listed securities.
The Executive Director and Head of Asset Management at NDK Asset Management, Mr Collins Appiah, said at the launch that the coming into being of the index was opportune, given that it came at a time the government was continually resorting to bond issues to fund infrastructure development.
Given that pension trustees were mandated under the new pensions act to manage part of the pension scheme, Mr Appiah said the presence of NDK-ABI would help the trustees benchmark pension funds that they had invested in bonds and notes.
The Chief Executive Officer of CSD, Mr Stephen Tetteh, said his outfit's desire to provide reliable data on investments informed its decision to partner NDK to develop the index.
He said as of June this year the CSD was managing over GH¢20.3 billion in bonds issued by the government, the Bank of Ghana and the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD).
The First Deputy Governor of the BoG, Mr Millison Narh, said the launch of the NDK-ABI was timely, given that it came at a time the US$1 billion Eurobond raised late last month was due to be listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE).
The NDK-ABI is a market capitalisation-weighted index that is expected to capture all actively traded investment grade bonds, including Government of Ghana (GoG) treasury securities.
By Maxwell Adombila Akalaare/Daily Graphic/Ghana
