Unit trusts net another $204m
THE Hongkong Investment Funds Association (HKIFA) has reported a net investment in unit trusts of US$26.3 million (about HK$204 million) in May, with total sales of US$213.3 million. Redemptions were US$187 million.
This is the 12th consecutive month that HKIFA has reported a net investment.
The sector with the highest net investment was Asia Pacific equity funds with US$45.5 million, followed by Japanese equity funds with US$24 million. These were the only two sectors reporting net investments.
The HKIFA said strong economic growth in Asia-Pacific had continually led to increased investment in the region.
The HKIFA, formerly known as the Hongkong Unit Trust Association, consists of 38 fund management companies as full or overseas members, and 18 associate members, including trustees and other professional involved in the administration of funds. It has recently changed its name to reflect its new, broader role as a representative of the entire fund management industry in Hongkong.
CITIBANK took a major step towards revolutionising consumer banking in Hongkong by providing a full range of phone-banking services to the consumer, eliminating the need to go to a branch for banking transactions.
Citibank Hongkong was the first bank to introduce manned 24-hour telephone banking in May 1990.
The telephone banking service is available automatically to all Citibank ATM cardholders. No application is required, unlike those of other banks.
With access to a tone-dial phone, customers can do almost all their banking 24 hours per day, including money transfers between accounts, deposit renewals, multi-currency transactions, account balance checking, foreign exchange and deposit rate enquiries, credit card and utility bill payments, statement requests, cheque book ordering and lost card reporting.
