Review of SBMX mutual fund from Sberbank: composition, profitability, review5 (1)

The bank card index is one of its details designed to protect against fraud. Unlike the card number, its CVC/CVV code, the holder’s first and last name, it is hidden from prying eyes!

This is especially true due to the fact that, for example, to make purchases and online payments on the Internet, you can do without a PIN code. Thus, after a bank card is lost or stolen, its index is the only detail that is inaccessible to attackers.

What is a bank card index

The card index is the encoding of the client's residential address. This is not a mandatory requirement for making payments on Russian websites and online stores. But foreign and, especially American sites, carry out additional identification of clients using this parameter. This measure is used to protect online payments from fraud.

All card details may end up in the hands of a stranger if it is lost or electronic databases are hacked. In some cases, an attacker can spy on someone else's PIN code. With its help, cash transactions will become available. And the card index is an additional security measure and protection of the cardholder’s personal information.

When making purchases on American websites, users undergo extended personal identification using the Address Verification Service system. It is very important that the information specified when issuing a card completely matches the data entered when making payments on the Internet.

Differences from mutual funds and ETFs

To make it clearer what SBMX BUIF is and how it functions, I’ll tell you how BUIFs are fundamentally different from mutual funds and ETFs.

Unlike ordinary mutual funds offered by Sberbank or, for example, VTB mutual funds, SBMX ETF units can be easily bought on the stock exchange and sold there. They have high liquidity, i.e. you can sell them at any time while the exchange is open. It’s cheaper - you don’t have to pay 1-2% for a purchase and a discount when selling, just a broker’s commission (which is mere pennies if you choose the right tariff).

A plus is the dividend policy of Sberbank BPIF - usually exchange-traded funds pay dividends to investors, but here they are reinvested. As a result, the fund has both a financial cushion and asset growth.

But unlike ETFs, a different system of activity control and, in general, the mechanism of the fund’s operation are used. Thus, to ensure the operation of a classic ETF, large and independent liquidity providers, usually global investment banks, are attracted (Google how global investment banks differ from ordinary commercial banks, you will be surprised). The depository (storage) of shares is large commercial banks. For FinEx, this is Bank of New York Mellon.

In the Russian SBMX, the reaper, and the priest, and the player on the pipe, and the provider (fund creator), and liquidity provider, and depository (custodian bank) is Sberbank CIB. In general, in another country they would say: “There are great risks,” but we know that Sberbank is too big to fall.

Moscow Exchange and Sberbank call SBMX an “ETF under Russian law,” and their main competitor FinEx does not agree with this. Well, God bless them, to be honest. For us there is no fundamental difference. The main thing is that the securities will be liquid, the provider will not steal them to Cyprus, and Sberbank will respond with its assets if something happens.

And here’s another interesting article: Deposit Benefit from Sberbank: conditions, rates, profitability

Essential details for online purchases

To carry out any online payments, buyers are always asked to:

• embossing - first and last name in Latin letters, embossed on the outside of the plastic; if an unnamed card is issued, the parameter is replaced with the last name and first name of the card owner in Latin transliteration;
• number - 16 or 18 digits on the front side of the card;
• card validity period, for example, 05/24 shows that the card is valid until May 31, 2024;
• type of card or payment system under which the card was issued, for example Visa, MasterCard, Mir;
• additional security detail - a combination of numbers on the back of the plastic CVV/CVC code.

Debit card Classic Sberbank

For most online payments, this data is sufficient. Therefore, if the plastic is lost, any attacker will be able to make a purchase on the Internet, transfer funds, or pay for a product or service on the website. If the fraudster also knows the PIN code, he will be able to withdraw cash from the card or pay for purchases in any stores that accept payments using the card.

Some foreign websites carry out additional identification of cardholders. They request:

1. Postal code or Postal Code is a field in which the numeric or alphanumeric encodings of the postal code of the residential address are entered.
2. Payment address or Billing Address is the permanent registration address of the payer in Latin transliteration, which was specified when opening a bank account or when issuing a card.
3. Delivery address or Sipping Address - the address of residence or current location of the payer in Latin transliteration.

The index is not written on the card of Sberbank or any other bank in the world, so such information is not available to unauthorized persons. It cannot be found anywhere in the public domain, unless the card owner himself gave this information to someone.

How to buy shares

You can purchase SBMX shares from any broker that provides access to the Moscow Exchange. You can also purchase the SBMX mutual fund through Sberbank Asset Management without any problems. But I advise you to consider alternatives - here, I compiled a rating of brokers with minimal commissions.

The purchase is made in 1 lot, which includes 1 share. The value of shares is rising. The sooner an investor purchases shares, the more shares he will take for the same money.

You can buy SBMX shares on IIS. Then you will be able to receive an additional tax deduction - one of two, more precisely.

And let me remind you that it is better to hold fund shares for more than 3 years. Then you will receive a tax deduction on income from the sale of a mutual fund share. 3 million rubles for each year. This, I think, is enough. In short: hold Sberbank SBMX securities for more than 3 years - and do not pay personal income tax on profits.

Checking Postal Code, Billing and Sipping Address

When filling out the Postal Code and Billing Address, it is important for Russian users to provide real information. This precaution is necessary so that when making the next payment on the site, the foreign seller does not have doubts about the identity of the card owner, otherwise the transaction may be rejected.

The card index matches the encoding of the locality in which the client lives. And in the Billing Address section they enter:

• city;
• street, avenue, alley;
• number of the house, building, building;
• apartment or room number.

If the sipping adress matches the billing adress, the sections will contain the same data. Addresses are filled out in Russian, but in Latin transliteration. In the final version it looks like this:

Some payers enter the same data in the sipping adress and billing adress sections, regardless of whether they actually match or not. In this case, the payment may be refused if the identity is verified manually. For verification, foreigners may be asked to scan a copy of a banking service agreement, which indicates their registration address.

Although not all sites carry out manual verification of foreigners’ addresses, you should not enter the same data in both sections if they are different. In particularly controversial situations, they may not only reject the payment, but also block the card at the most inopportune moment. After this, you will have to explain to the bank that it was really you who made the payment, and not the scammers.

If it is difficult to independently translate the street name to fill out the billing or shipping address sections, use the translit-online program. In the top field, write the address in Cyrillic, and then copy the resulting Latin version.

Paste the finished text into the fields on the page where you pay for the goods. Do not translate Russian words into English, even if it makes sense. For example, Mira Street will be transliterated as Mira, not Peace or World. Attempting a literal translation will complicate the process of identifying an address that is entered into Russian databases in Russian.

Features of the fund

Officially the fund is called Sberbank - Moscow Exchange Total Return Index “gross”. SBMX is the fund's ticker symbol on the exchange. Essentially, it displays the Moscow Exchange index, which includes the most liquid shares and depositary receipts of the domestic market. Thus, the SBMX structure includes shares of Lukoil, Gazprom, Rosneft, Yandex, Tatneft and, of course, Sberbank itself. In total, the fund includes 35 positions.

The fund is divided into small parts - shares. They can be purchased from any broker. As a general rule, as soon as the fund's assets increase, the price of the share also increases. And the value of assets depends on the Moscow Exchange index. In short, if the Russian stock market is doing well, then Sberbank’s SBMX is also growing (shares are becoming more expensive).

The profit received from dividends is reinvested, which allows the fund to constantly increase the volume of assets. So the price of the share should rise due to this.

In accordance with the policy, changes in the share price should not deviate from the benchmark - the Moscow Exchange index - by more than 3%. The composition of assets is shaken up once a quarter. In my opinion, this is not enough for active control, and too much for passive control. But the composition of the index on the Moscow Exchange is also not often reviewed.

As for the management fee - and SBMX is managed by Sberbank Asset Management - it is 1.1% of the net asset value and is charged once a year. But it is already included in the price of the share, so the share holder does not have to pay anything to anyone.

But you need to take into account that you will have to pay a commission to the broker to purchase a share of the BPIF on the exchange. It depends on the tariff plan and trading conditions.

Trading of SBMX shares on the exchange is carried out by the market maker. They are performing - surprise! - also Sberbank. A market maker (no, not a party maker, shoot yourself!) is a dude company that provides normal liquidity in the market. In other words, it is through it that the bulk of purchases and sales of shares occurs if there are not enough private investors in the market.

And here’s another interesting article: SBSP mutual fund from Sberbank: investments in the S&P 500 index

For an asset that has just appeared and has not yet attracted enough buyers, this is a good sign. This means that you can always buy and sell shares on the exchange at the current price and with a minimum spread.

Features of checking addresses of Russian buyers

The main difficulty for Russian cardholders is that the Russian banking system does not use an index and billing address when registering clients. All customer addresses are verified in the USA. But the AVS system does not apply to all countries of the world. At the same time, international payment systems do not recommend skipping filling out these sections for several reasons:

• When making regular purchases on foreign sites, data is re-verified, so it will be easier to protect your card from hacking, phishing or other fraudulent activities;
• the seller may request manual confirmation of the specified information, for example, a scan of a receipt for payment of utility bills, which contains the same address as in the payment form or a photo of a bank agreement for servicing the card;
• the owner of the online store can contact the card issuing bank with a request to confirm the client’s involvement in the specified address;
• the seller of the goods may refuse payment if the field is empty or in a situation where the bank does not confirm the client’s involvement in the entered address.

Most online stores are aware of the peculiarities of the Russian banking system and the absence of an AVS system. Therefore, they rarely decline payments; no one wants to lose customers. But at the same time, they save the payment address in their internal database in order to use it in controversial situations. Some, but not all sites, perform a manual check through communication with the bank that issued the card upon the first transaction using a card. During the verification process, the money is blocked in the account, and after confirmation of identity, the amount is written off.

You can try to enter any fictitious address, but this will complicate further operations or lead to blocking of payments with the online store if discrepancies are detected during manual verification. Most major eBay, Amazon and gaming content platforms process transactions without verifying a billing address.

SBGB

This fund invests in Russian government debt, tracking the Russian government bond index (OFZ). The index is quite widely diversified: it contains 24 OFZs with different maturities, the average share of bonds is 4.17%.

OFZs are issued by the Ministry of Finance, and their yield and repayment are provided by the state itself. Consequently, OFZs are the most reliable asset on the Moscow Exchange. OFZs are a representative of the fixed income asset class, therefore, SBGB has the prerequisites for constant growth.

The only disadvantage of SBGB is its low yield (at 5-6% per annum), which will fall even more if the key rate in the economy is reduced. In general, SBGB can be used as an alternative to a deposit - but with higher returns. The yield curve resembles an upward arc.

The fund charges a management fee of 0.8% of NAV per year. The cost of a share is 1254 rubles.

Where to find your checking account

For some types of payments, the client will need to indicate his current account. This data is in no way related to the bank card number, zip code or billing address. The client's current account consists of 20 digits. They can be found in several ways:

• open the agreement for banking services or the issuance of a plastic card, find the field - settlement, balance or current account, it may be called differently, but it is the same thing;
• call the hotline and request your current account number from the operator;
• contact a bank specialist at the office with your passport;
• find the information using a self-service terminal or ATM on the “My Accounts” tab; if you need the information in writing, print out the details;
• pick up the paid receipts from your plastic card, it will also contain information about the bank account that is linked to the card;
• find the numbers of all your accounts in online banking or in the mobile application.

There is no information with the current account number on the plastic card.

Difference and tracking error

So, we have outlined the main differences between SBMX and FXRL. Two more terms worth mentioning are tracking difference and tracking error. Tracking error is the deviation of the calculated price of a unit from the weighted average value of the index (benchmark).

There is also a tracking difference. This is the delta of the return values ​​of the fund's security and the index itself. Here is a comparison table with data from August 2021 to January 2021:

As we can see, FXRL tracks the index dynamics better. However, it should be noted that SBMX is a “younger” fund, and therefore the tracking history is obtained over a short period. In terms of full historical data for FXRL, the overall tracking error for the entire period was 2.42%.

Security in online payments

To avoid compromising the personal data of your bank card, follow these recommendations:

1. Do not write down information about the CVV/CVC code located on the back of the plastic card anywhere on your computer or in the cloud.
2. Do not answer questions received electronically, purporting to be on behalf of the bank or its technical support service. Remember, credit union officers NEVER ask for PIN or CVV/CVC code information. Anyone who tries to find out such information is an attacker. They threaten your financial security. If you find similar letters in email or social networks, forward them to the technical support of your servicing bank or the security department.
3. Do not answer questions of the same content received by telephone. Even if they introduced themselves to you as bank employees, call center operators, or by your last name, first name and patronymic. There could have been a leak of personal data somewhere on the Internet. Proceed as you would when receiving emails.
4. When making payments online, pay attention to the address bar of the site. It must be protected by a protocol for monetary settlements. At the beginning of the address line, the http// protocol is used, and https//, next to which there is a closed padlock icon.
5. When making payments in real stores or service centers, always keep your cards in sight. Do not allow maintenance staff to remove plastic. Not to another room, not to another cash register. All transactions must be carried out only in your personal presence.

If any of the access codes are compromised, order a reissue of your plastic card - this will save time, nerves and your money.

about the author

Klavdiya Treskova - higher education with qualification “Economist”, with specializations “Economics and Management” and “Computer Technologies” at PSU. She worked in a bank in positions from operator to acting. Head of the Department for servicing private and corporate clients. Every year she successfully passed certifications, education and training in banking services. Total work experience in the bank is more than 15 years. [email protected]

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Which is better – FXRL or SBMX

So which fund should a long-term passive investor choose? At first glance, the comparison “SBMX vs FXRL” speaks in favor of the Sberbank fund, since the tax on dividends is a pretty good reason to doubt the advantages of FXRL. However, we should not forget about exchange rate differences.

Another point of view: with the constantly growing exchange rate of the American currency, it is safer to invest in FXRL. This ETF also benefits from lower fees and tracking errors. But assumptions that are not supported by calculations can play a cruel joke on your finances. So let's look at a practical example.

Comments: 14

Your comment (question) If you have questions about this article, you can tell us. Our team consists of only experienced experts and specialists with specialized education. We will try to help you in this topic:

Author of the article: Klavdiya Treskova

Consultant, author Popovich Anna

Financial author Olga Pikhotskaya

1. Jekaterina
   04/30/2021 at 01:08 What to do if the line with the residential address is not specified, but you are asked to enter an index?
   Reply ↓ Anna Popovich
   05/01/2021 at 01:04

   Dear Ekaterina, please clarify this issue with the support service of the service you use.

   Reply ↓

SBCB

This BPIF invests in the Moscow Exchange index of liquid Russian Eurobonds. 12.92% of the index volume is occupied by the famous RUS-28, the rest is Eurobonds of the largest Russian corporations, such as Gazprom, Rosneft, VEB Finance, Novatek, Lukoil, MMK. The total number of issuers is quite small - 11.

Due to fairly low diversification, excessive volatility is ensured, especially in light of the problems of individual issuers: each bond individually has a large impact on the index.

However, SBCB is the optimal way to invest in Eurobonds without the need to obtain the status of a qualified investor and spend a large sum on the purchase at once: for example, the face values ​​of the bonds included in the fund are at least $1,000, while the cost of a BPIF share is 1,286 rubles.

In addition, SBCB provides currency diversification, since the nominal value of the assets is dollar.

SBCB management fee is 0.8%.

SBRI

BPIF tracks the RSPP Index Vector of sustainable development, full profitability, i.e. providing for the reinvestment of dividends.

The main idea of ​​the index is investing in companies that adhere to the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) principle, i.e. to "ethical" companies. The index includes companies that have demonstrated the best performance indicators in the field of sustainable development and corporate social responsibility.

The index includes a total of 20 shares of the following companies: Inter RAO, Norilsk Nickel, FGC UES, Alrosa, NLMK, Rostelecom, Rosseti, Severstal, MMK, Lukoil, Polyus, MTS, Sberbank, Rosneft, Phosagro, Sistema, Novatek, Gazprom and Tatneft. The more a company aligns with ESG principles, the larger its share in the index. SBRI mutual fund is popular among investors committed to “responsible” investing.

The fund is traded in rubles, the current value is 11.83%. Management fee – 1% of NAV per year.