What is FONDex?

In order to increase the transparency of operations of voluntary pension funds (VPFs) and improve the comparability of movements in investment unit values of VPFs, the NBS has devised the FONDex index, a unique indicator of movements in the VPF system. To illustrate, FONDex may be viewed as an investment unit value of an imaginary fund representing all funds operating in Serbia.

The FONDex value is calculated on a daily basis. Its value for the selected date is obtained by multiplying the index value for the previous business day with the weighted average of chain indices of investment unit values for each fund. A fund’s net value is taken as a weighting factor, hence the effect of each fund’s investment unit value on the formation of FONDex value is proportional to that fund’s market share. The first calculation date is/was 15 November 2006, the first business day of the first VPF, while the initial FONDex value is 1,000.

The following should be noted:

  • Previous index values (of investment units) do not guarantee future results. Future values may be higher or lower than the previous ones.
  • A percentage-wise change in the FONDex index (as with any other index), relative to an earlier date, is more significant than its present absolute value. This is particularly important when movements in investment unit values of VPFs are compared to movements in FONDex values. 
  • FONDex should not be compared with investment unit values of individual funds. A higher or lower investment unit value in comparison with the FONDex is not an indicator of a fund’s performance. 
  • FONDex should not be used for making investment decisions and should not be used to compare with movements in investment unit values so as to indicate outstanding or poor performance of funds. 
  • To adequately compare returns of different funds, it is necessary to possess information on the structure, i.e. the level of funds’ investment risk.


Formula:

 

where:

  • FONDex(t) – FONDex value on selected day t
  • FONDex(t-1) – FONDex value on the business day preceding day t
  • n – number of VPFs operating on day t
  • IJ (i,t) – fund’s investment unit value i on day t
  • IJ (i,t-1) – fund’s investment unit value i on the business day preceding day t
  • NI (i,t) – fund’s net asset value i on day t
  • FONDex (t0) – FONDex value on the first calculation date (15 November 2006)

Note:
The comparison of movements in the FONDex value and movements in VPF investment unit values cannot be considered a NBS recommendation as to the choice of a particular VPF. Although the NBS takes all due care when disclosing the VPF investment unit value, it does not take responsibility for consequences resulting from the use of the index or a VPF investment unit value.