Author: Hitanshi Mehta
Investment Objective
The Fund seeks, by employing a passive investment strategy, to outperform the S&P/ASX Bank Bill Index (before fees and expenses). It offers the ability to achieve potentially enhanced regular income with a diversified portfolio of higher-yielding high quality short-term money market instruments, including floating rate notes. It is truly liquid and only holds instruments that can be easily sold to meet investor requirements.
Investment Strategy
The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by employing a passive investment strategy that aims to outperform the performance of the S&P/ASX Bank Bill Index (referred to in this section 6 of the PDS as the Index). Given the synthetic nature of Index constituents (refer to section 6.4 of this PDS, titled “About the Index” for further information) it is not possible to implement an investment strategy that looks to construct a portfolio of Index constituents. Instead, the Fund’s conservatively managed passive investment strategy will construct a portfolio of money market and fixed income securities that typically provide higher yield without significant increase in default and interest rate risk. Securities will be selected with consideration to the security’s rating, sector, maturity, liquidity, and underlying credit fundamentals.
The Fund will be managed using a buy and hold investment philosophy, similar to other passive investment strategies, with full daily portfolio transparency. A sampling methodology has been selected as the most appropriate investment technique, as it keeps trading costs to a minimum and provides the necessary flexibility to deliver investment returns that either meet or at times may exceed Index returns. Any outperformance of the Index will not be a result of active trading nor the investment expertise of the individual fund manager(s) in selecting particular investment securities that it considers will perform better relative to other securities. Rather, returns above the Index would typically result from prudent risk mitigation and diversification measures, including:
► issuer diversification, for example, rather than having issuer concentration to the four major Australian banks, diversification can be achieved by investing in similarly rated authorised deposit taking institutions (ADIs) who issue securities at a margin above the benchmark BBSW rates (the rates provided by the major Australian banks) ‐ the overarching investment consideration is prudent risk management and credit risk mitigation and not active security selection by the individual fund manager(s) based on perceived credit quality, as the credit quality is the same; and
► investment of up to 20% in Floating Rate Notes (FRNs) which earn a higher yield relative to very short‐term “cash‐like” securities ‐ these investments will be “buy and hold” and not actively traded, the overarching investment rationale for holding these securities is to further diversify credit risk in the portfolio. The Fund is also expected to attract additional returns from attractive interest rates on Australian dollar cash deposits. The interest rate on cash deposits will most likely exceed the 24-hour Cash Rate that is used as a price input into the Index return calculation, as BlackRock has long
established commercial relationships with several Australian ADIs, which allows cash to be placed on deposit at commercial rates.
Cash deposits are not actively traded; rather allocations will be based on issuer concentration limits, therefore further diversifying the portfolio.
Trading within the Fund is only expected to meet client flows or the reinvestment of maturating securities and not as a result of active security selection. The credit quality, liquidity risk and maturity profile of the Fund will be continuously monitored and adjusted with reference to the Index. Additionally, investments of the Fund are required to have a long‐term credit rating of BBB or higher or a short‐term credit rating of A2 or higher by S&P Ratings or an equivalent rating from Moody’s. Further details of the Fund’s investment strategy, including investment parameters, is set out in the Fund’s Investment Guidelines, which is available upon request. Given the Fund is unable to implement a traditional full replication or optimisation passive investment strategy, the Fund may at times incur greater tracking error than other ETFs (refer to the section of this PDS titled “Fund risks” for further information on the risks associated with investing in the Fund).
Performance:
Asset Allocation:
People:
About the Index:
The Index offers short‐term exposure to Australian dollar‐ denominated bank bills with maturity profiles of up to 91 days. Unlike traditional equity and fixed income indexes, the constituents of which are shares and bonds respectively, the Index consists of synthetic “securities” that cannot be purchased and sold. The constituents of the Index are a series of 13 hypothetical weekly bills, ranging from one‐week to 91 days in maturity that are interpolated using the 24-Hour Cash Rate and the 30‐Day, 60‐Day and 90‐Day Bank Bill Swap rates (BBSW). The credit worthiness of the bills included in the Index is deemed that of prime banks, i.e., the major four Australian banks. The 13 rates are derived from the four rate types described above and applied to each of the 13 hypothetical bills. As the Index progresses to the next weekly rebalancing date the term to maturity of each bill, and the Index as a whole, reduces daily until the shortest bill matures. The face value of this bill is then reinvested in a new bill with a term to maturity of 13 weeks and the term to maturity of the Index increases by approximately seven days. The total amount received on maturity, that is the face value, is reinvested in the discounted value of a new 91‐day bill. The Index is maintained so that maturing bills are reinvested in the discounted value of a new 91‐day bill on the day the cash is received (each Tuesday).
About the Fund:
Ishares Enhanced Cash ETF (ISEC) offers the ability to achieve capital preservation and potentially enhanced regular income with a diversified portfolio of higher-yielding high quality short-term money market instruments, including floating rate notes. The fund Achieve capital preservation and maximise regular current income with a diversified portfolio of higher-yielding high quality short-term money market instruments, including floating rate notes.
DISCLAIMER for General Advice: (This document is for general advice only).
This document is provided by Laverne Securities Pty Ltd T/as Laverne Investing. Laverne Securities Pty Ltd, CAR 001269781 of Laverne Capital Pty Ltd AFSL No. 482937.
The material in this document may contain general advice or recommendations which, while believed to be accurate at the time of publication, are not appropriate for all persons or accounts. This document does not purport to contain all the information that a prospective investor may require. The material contained in this document does not take into consideration an investor’s objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on the advice, investors should consider the appropriateness of the advice, having regard to the investor’s objectives, financial situation, and needs. The material contained in this document is for sales purposes. The material contained in this document is for information purposes only and is not an offer, solicitation or recommendation with respect to the subscription for, purchase or sale of securities or financial products and neither or anything in it shall form the basis of any contract or commitment. This document should not be regarded by recipients as a substitute for the exercise of their own judgment and recipients should seek independent advice.
The material in this document has been obtained from sources believed to be true but neither Laverne and Banyan Tree nor its associates make any recommendation or warranty concerning the accuracy or reliability or completeness of the information or the performance of the companies referred to in this document. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Any opinions and or recommendations expressed in this material are subject to change without notice and, Laverne and Banyan Tree are not under any obligation to update or keep current the information contained herein. References made to third parties are based on information believed to be reliable but are not guaranteed as being accurate.
Laverne and Banyan Tree and its respective officers may have an interest in the securities or derivatives of any entities referred to in this material. Laverne and Banyan Tree do and seek to do business with companies that are the subject of its research reports. The analyst(s) hereby certify that all the views expressed in this report accurately reflect their personal views about the subject investment theme and/or company securities.
Although every attempt has been made to verify the accuracy of the information contained in the document, liability for any errors or omissions (except any statutory liability which cannot be excluded) is specifically excluded by Laverne and Banyan Tree, its associates, officers, directors, employees, and agents. Except for any liability which cannot be excluded, Laverne and Banyan Tree, its directors, employees and agents accept no liability or responsibility for any loss or damage of any kind, direct or indirect, arising out of the use of all or any part of this material. Recipients of this document agree in advance that Laverne and Banyan Tree are not liable to recipients in any matters whatsoever otherwise; recipients should disregard, destroy or delete this document. All information is correct at the time of publication. Laverne and Banyan Tree do not guarantee reliability and accuracy of the material contained in this document and is not liable for any unintentional errors in the document.
The securities of any company(ies) mentioned in this document may not be eligible for sale in all jurisdictions or to all categories of investors. This document is provided to the recipient only and is not to be distributed to third parties without the prior consent of Laverne and Banyan Tree.