M&G takes on the societies

A UNIT trust launched by M&G is targeted to attract savers away from the building society market.

The M&G Treasury Fund is aimed at the cautious investor. It proposes to invest its assets in short-dated Treasury Bills and other relatively risk-free investments.

Annual charges will be 0.6 per cent and there will be no initial fees.

Income will be distributed monthly. The minimum investment is pounds 5,000.

M&G believes that returns will be consistently above the rates offered on building society instant access accounts.

It calculates that if the fund had been in place last November its compounded annual return would have been 6.06 per cent, compared with an average of 5.5 per cent from the top building societies.

Details on 071 626 4588.