A mutual fund is a professionally managed company that collects money from many investors and invests it in securities such as stocks, bonds and short-term debt, equity or bond funds and money market funds.
Mutual funds are a good investment for investors looking to diversify their portfolio. Instead of betting everything on one company or sector, a mutual fund invests in different stocks to try to minimize portfolio risk.
The term is typically used in the US, Canada and India, while similar structures around the world include the SICAV in Europe and the open-ended investment firm in the UK.
What is CAS? (consolidated statement of account)
Just as a school report card shows a child’s score on various exams held during the academic year in different subjects taught by different teachers, a consolidated statement (CAS) is a physical statement that captures all financial transactions made by an investor in different mutual funds during a month. If you have invested in three different funds, all financial transactions such as purchase, redemption, switch, SIP/STP/SWP, dividend payments/dividend reinvestment are captured.
The CAS also captures the opening and closing balances of the various portfolios linked to a PAN. However, non-financial transactions such as changes to bank details, address, candidates, etc. are not captured in a CAS. A CAS not only captures monthly financial transactions between different houses of funds, but also captures transactions in other securities held in Datomat mode. This means that transactions related to shares are also captured in a CAS.
Therefore, CAS is truly a consolidated statement of all your financial investment related transactions. The CAS is generated monthly and is sent to investors by the 10th day of the following month. CAS is generated for unique PAN holders and thus captures all financial transactions associated with a particular PAN. If the PAN holder has not made financial transactions in a month, no CAS is generated.