BlackRock Liquidity First Fund

The Liquidity First Fund from BlackRock is now available to retail investors through Barclays Stockbrokers.

BlackRock offer a range of Money Market funds as an alternative to holding cash, and these are primarily products aimed at institutions. Now the Liquidity First Fund from BlackRock is available to retail investors through Barclays Stockbrokers.

What is the BlackRock Liquidity First fund?

The BlackRock Liquidity first fund is a cash fund that invests in cash products rather than equities and bonds. It provides the advantages of a fund, such as pooled money and expert management but for cash assets. The fund aims to provide investors with a combination of the security on investing in capital and a competitive yield.

It invests in a wide range of transferable securities including certificates of deposit, floating rate notes and commercial paper, with a diversified spread of high quality financial institutions, sovereign issuers and corporate issuers.

Who might be interested in this fund?

The fund is ideal for investors with large cash balances who do not feel market conditions are right for them to make an investment into equities, other funds, fixed income securities or any other type of investment instrument. They prefer the security of holding cash but want to earn a competitive return on their cash assets. The BlackRock Liquidity First fund can be considered as an investment alternative to holding cash in a savings account.

Features of the BlackRock Liquidity First Fund

The BlackRock Liquidity First fund has no Initial Charge and there are no trading commissions for investing in it, so 100% of your investment goes straight into the fund. There are also no charges for selling the fund.

The fund pays interest. It aims to get the best rate of return available in the cash market and benchmarks itself against 7 day LIBID*. The return achieved by the fund over the last 12 months (January 2006 to January 2007) was 5.46%, however this is not an indication of future returns as the level of income can go down as well as up and is not guaranteed.

The interest you earn on the fund is paid in the form of additional fund units. It is based on the number of individual days you hold the fund for and paid to you at the start of each month.

The fund has a constant price of £1 per unit.

The fund has an annual management charge of 0.45% and this is taken from the value of the fund. There are no charges that investors pay directly.

The fund has a minimum investment size of £25,000.

Risks of the BlackRock Liquidity First Fund

Whilst investments are made in high quality credit instruments, there can be no assurances the issuers will not fail to meet their obligations leading to losses.

Value of investments and the income derived from them may fall as well as rise.

• Download the latest BlackRock Liquidity First Fund factsheet

   

How can I invest in the fund?

You can invest in the fund through either a MarketMaster or SIPP account. The fund is not eligible to be held in an Investment ISA.

You can invest in the fund online, or by telephone.

The fund deals on a daily basis and the cut off time for your order to be placed on the same day is 12.00pm. If you place an order after this time, we will deal in the fund for you on the following business day.

Already a Barclays Stockbrokers client?

All you need to do is log in and select 'Deal funds' from the left hand menu in the deal tab. On the 'Enter Order' page, select 'BlackRock' from the Fund Manager menu and 'Liquidity First Fund' from the fund menu.

• Login

Alternatively, you can place an order with us by telephone. Call us on 0845 601 7788** to place your fund order.

Not a Barclays Stockbrokers Client?

It is easy to get started. Simply open an account and you can be trading the next day.

• Open an account

 

*LIBID - London Inter Bank Bid Rate generally 0.125 below LIBOR where LIBOR is London Inter Bank Offer Rate - the rate that a bank is willing to lend money to other banks.

**Lines are open from 8.30am to 6.30pm Monday to Thursday, and from 8.30am to 5pm Friday, excluding bank holidays. Calls made to 0845 numbers are free for BT residential customers (current as at January 2009). The price on non-BT phone lines may vary; please check with your service provider. You can only use these numbers if you are calling from within the UK. If calling from outside the UK, please call +44 141 352 3909. Calls may be recorded to monitor the quality of our service, to check instructions and for security purposes.