Alfa Asset Management launches a new service for the Bulgarian market – purchase of shares from mutual funds over the internet, the company announced at a press conference today.

Management companies don’t have a wide network of branches, because their maintenance is expensive and is paid by investors. Therefore we decided to start online share trade – to facilitate our clients and at the same time keep our costs low”, Peter Vasilev, portfolio manager of the company, said.

Alfa Asset Management’s funds – Alfa Index Imoti and Alfa Index Top 15 offer the lowest costs on the market – about 0.2-0.3% of the assets’ value.

They are able to offer such low costs due to the passive investment strategy of the funds – the portfolio structure is preliminary determined so that the funds should follow the market development – no need of expensive financial analysis and transaction costs are significantly lower.

Alfa Index Imoti invests in REITs (real estate investment trusts). The fund’s portfolio also includes the most actively traded REITs with shares proportionate to their capital. Alfa Index Top 15 follows the structure of the Dnevnik 20 index, which includes the 20 leading companies traded on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange ranked by their liquidity and market capitalization.

Technically online share purchase can be made through the company’s website www.alfafund.com. Users have to register and make a share purchase order. Payment can be made via e-pay, bank transfer or credit card, transaction costs are covered by the client. The security of the clients’ data is guaranteed.

“On the other hand we are hoping to attract foreign clients as well, including Bulgarians who live abroad and who currently have very few options to invest in Bulgarian mutual funds, because the necessary documents should be on paper”, the company added.