GTF plans to launch four mutual funds

JAKARTA (JP): BDNI group's GTF Indonesia Asset Management plans to launch four open-end mutual funds to raise about Rp 3 trillion (US$1.25 billion) from the public later this month.

GTF Indonesia Asset Management's president, Kamardy Arif, said yesterday it was waiting for Capital Market Supervisory Agency approval to offer the funds.

"We expect to get the approval within the week," he said on the sidelines of Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia's (BDNI) shareholders' meeting.

Kamardy Arif, who is a former Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) president, declined to name the new open-end funds.

Its 50 existing mutual funds have raised about Rp 6 trillion ($2.5 billion) from about 8,000 investors.

"The figures are remarkable but still small compared to those in developed countries," said the agency's chairman, I Putu Gede Ary Suta.

He told Kompas over the weekend that there were at least 1,450 mutual funds in Britain and about 7,650 mutual funds in the United States.

He said mutual funds, introduced here less than two years ago, had helped boost local investors' participation in the equity market.

He said local investors once accounted for about 30 percent of total daily trading transactions in the capital market, but now accounted for about 51 percent.

Before, almost 70 percent were made by foreign investors, he said.

Putu said more mutual funds would benefit investors as they were offered with more investment alternatives.

And more mutual funds would increase the professionalism of investment management companies, he said.

Seventeen more open-end mutual funds are to be approved by agency. (09)