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\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \n \t\t\u00a9 Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" April 4 – Fitch Ratings has affirmed Standard Bank Corporate Money Market Fund’s National Fund Credit Rating at ‘AA+(zaf)’ and National Fund Volatility Rating at ‘V1(zaf)’. KEY RATING DRIVERS: The affirmation of the Fund Credit Rating is driven by the fund’s high and stable credit quality, as reflected by the fund’s weighted average rating factor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-9649","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9649\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}April 4 - Fitch Ratings has affirmed Standard Bank Corporate Money Market\nFund's National Fund Credit Rating at 'AA+(zaf)' and National Fund Volatility\nRating at 'V1(zaf)'.\t\n\t\nKEY RATING DRIVERS:\t\nThe affirmation of the Fund Credit Rating is driven by the fund's high and\nstable credit quality, as reflected by the fund's weighted average rating factor\n(WARF) and rating distribution.\t\n\t\nThe affirmation of the Fund Volatility Rating is driven by the fund's low\nexposure to interest rate risk and spread risk, as reflected in its short\nmaturity profiles.\t\n\t\nASSET CREDIT QUALITY:\t\nThe weighted average credit quality of the fund is high, taking into\nconsideration the short maturities of the invested assets and has remained\nrelatively stable over time. The fund primarily invests in issuers rated in the\n'F1+(zaf)'\/'AA(zaf)' rating category. Approximately 70% of the fund was subject\nto a Negative Outlook as of March 2012, reflecting the revision of the Outlook\non South Africa's long-term Issuer Default Ratings to Negative in January 2012\nand the resulting impact on South African banks' rating Outlooks.\t\n\t\nCONCENTRATION:\t\nIn Fitch's opinion, the fund incurs substantial concentration risk, with the top\nthree issuer exposures consistently in excess of 50% of portfolio holdings.\nIn-line with its applicable rating criteria, Fitch typically adjusts the\nWARF-implied Fund Credit Rating of funds it deems concentrated down by one or\nmore notches. Without concentration risk, the fund could achieve a 'AAA(zaf)'\nFund Credit Rating.\t\n\t\nThe concentrated holdings reflects the fund's investment mandate, which limits\nit to banking issuers, and the structural characteristics of the South African\nmarket, with a limited supply of treasury bills, and the five largest banks\nhaving a combined market share of around 90%, according to Fitch's estimates.\nThe fund's high natural liquidity mitigates concentration risk.\t\n\t\nWithout a structural evolution of the South African market which results in a\nmore diverse, high quality and liquid issuance market, it is highly unlikely\nthat Fitch could rate any money market fund higher than 'AA+(zaf)' in South\nAfrica\t\n\t\nPORTFOLIO SENSITIVITY TO MARKET RISK:\t\nThe fund has low exposure to interest rate risk and spread risk, as reflected by\na short maturity profile, with the result that the market risk factor (i.e. a\nrisk-adjusted duration measure) for the fund is also low, consistent with a\n'V1'(zaf) Fund Volatility Rating. As per current applicable regulation, the\nfund's weighted average maturity is capped at 90 days and no investment may have\na maturity of greater than 365 days.\t\n\t\nFUND PROFILE:\t\nThe fund is regulated by South Africa's Financial Services Board under the\nCollective Investment Schemes Control Act of 2002 (specifically Notice 1503 of\n2005). Fitch notes that amendments to this legislation have been proposed and\nare expected to be implemented in 2012. Fitch believes that the fund is well\npositioned to comply with the proposed new regulatory framework.\t\n\t\nThe fund invest in fixed- and floating-rate money market instruments including\nnegotiable certificates of deposit, promissory notes and fixed deposits issued\nby the major South African banks. The size of the fund (combined with other\nmoney market funds managed by Stanlib) allows the fund to negotiate preferential\nrates and structures with issuers.\t\n\t\nAs of end-February 2012, the fund had ZAR30bn in assets under management (AUM).\nIts sister funds, the Standard Bank Retail Money Market Fund (NR) and the\nStandard Bank Institutional Money Market Fund (NR) had ZAR34bn and ZAR19bn in\nAUM, respectively.\t\n\t\nTHE ADVISOR:\t\nFitch considers Stanlib suitably qualified, competent and capable of managing\nthese funds. Stanlib is owned by Liberty (NR) which was around 54% owned by the\nStandard Bank Group ('BBB+'\/Negative\/'F2') as of December 2011. Stanlib's AUM\nwere around ZAR341bn as of end-December 2011, including ZAR150bn in fixed income\n(around 44% of AUM), of which ZAR107bn was in money market funds and segregated\ncash mandates. The fund is managed by Ansie van Rensburg who has deep experience\nand tenure with Stanlib. The portfolio manager is part of Stanlib's fixed income\ninvestment team consisting of 11 investment professionals with average\nexperience of around 16 years. Fitch views positively the depth of analysis and\nfrequency of review in Stanlib's credit process.\t\n\t\nRATING SENSITIVITY:\t\nFunds in the 'AA(zaf)' rating category are considered to have very high\nunderlying credit quality. The assets of the fund are expected to maintain a\nweighted-average portfolio rating of 'AA(zaf)'.\t\n\t\nFunds rated 'V1(zaf)' are considered to have low sensitivity to market risk. On\na relative basis, total returns of funds rated 'V1(zaf)' are expected to exhibit\nhigh stability, performing consistently across a broad range of market\nscenarios. The Fund Volatility Rating does not address the sensitivity of a bond\nfund to extreme risks that may result from reduced liquidity in secondary\nmarkets during certain periods of time.\t\n\t\nComparisons between different national fund rating scales or between an\nindividual national and international scale are inappropriate.\t\n\t\nThe ratings assigned to the fund may be sensitive to material changes in the\ncredit quality or market risk profile of the fund. A material adverse deviation\nfrom Fitch criteria for any key rating driver could cause ratings to be\ndowngraded by Fitch. Specifically, Fitch would expect to downgrade the Fund\nCredit Rating in the event of sustained deterioration in credit quality, closely\nrelated to the agency's credit opinion on the South African banking sector.\nGiven the fund's short maturity profile the Fund Volatility Rating is expected\nto be stable. However, should interest rates or market volatility in South\nAfrica structurally change then Fitch would expect to downgrade the Fund\nVolatility Rating.\t\n\t\nRATING CRITERIA:\t\nFitch rates money market funds (MMFs) in South Africa under its global bond fund\nrating criteria. This reflects the differences the agency perceives between\nSouth African MMFs and other Fitch-rated MMFs under its international and\nnational MMF rating criteria (see below). Specifically, the high level of\nconcentration in these funds, a structural characteristic of the South African\nmarket, is inconsistent with Fitch's view of the risk profile of a MMF. The\nagency also notes regulatory differences between the US and European MMFs\n(subject to Rule 2a-7 in the US and the ESMA guidelines on MMFs in Europe) and\nthe regulatory regime in South Africa, in spite of proposed changes to\napplicable regulation in South Africa.\t\n\t\n\t\nAdditional information is available at www.fitchratings.com.\t\n\t\nThe ratings above were solicited by, or on behalf of, the issuer, and therefore,\nFitch has been compensated for the provision of the ratings.\t\n\t\nThe sources of information used to assess this rating were the public domain and\nStanlib.\t\n\t\nApplicable criteria 'Global Bond Fund Rating Criteria', dated 16 August 2011, is\navailable at www.fitchratings.com.\t\n\t\nApplicable criteria and related research:\t\n'Global Bond Fund Rating Criteria', dated 16 August 2011\t\n'South African Money Market Funds - Analysis under Updated Criteria - Amended',\ndated 17 August 2011\t\n'South Africa', dated 1 February 2012\t\n'Money Market Fund Reform in South Africa', dated 29 February 2012\t\n'Global Money Market Fund Rating Criteria', dated 29 March 2012\t\n'National Scale Money Market Fund Rating Criteria', dated 15 March 2010\t\nare available at www.fitchratings.com.\t\n\t\nNote to Editors: Fitch's National ratings provide a relative measure of\ncreditworthiness for rated entities in countries with relatively low\ninternational sovereign ratings and where there is demand for such ratings. The\nbest risk within a country is rated 'AAA' and other credits are rated only\nrelative to this risk. National ratings are designed for use mainly by local\ninvestors in local markets and are signified by the addition of an identifier\nfor the country concerned, such as 'AAA(zaf)' for National ratings in South\nAfrica. Specific letter grades are not therefore internationally comparable.\t\n\t\nNational Fund Volatility ratings are an opinion of the relative sensitivity of\nthe total return, including market price, on a fund's shares to a broad array of\nassumed interest rates, rate of mortgage prepayment, liquidity of the portfolio,\nspreads, currency exchange rates, and other market conditions. Additional\ninformation is available at www.fitchratings.com.\t\n\t\nApplicable Criteria and Related Research:\t\nNational Scale Money Market Fund Rating Criteria\t\nGlobal Bond Fund Rating Criteria\t\nSouth African Money Market Funds - Analysis under Updated Criteria - Amended\t\nMoney Market Fund Reform in South Africa\t\nGlobal Money Market Fund Rating Criteria<\/pre>\n