The combinedCommonwealth Bank/ColonialandNational Australia Bank/MLCgroups have confirmed their top positions as the largest Australian retail fund managers.
The Commonwealth/Colonial group remains the largest retail manager, with its share of total Australian retail managed fund assets reaching 16.6 per cent as at March 31, 2002, according to the latest figures released byMorningstarand Plan for Life Researchers and Actuaries. This was up slightly from 16.3 per cent for the same period last year.
In at second position, the National Australia/MLC group currently accounts for almost 14.5 per cent of total managed fund industry assets.
According to Morningstar analyst Joel Aurisch, both groups should retain their top positions for some time.
“I don’t think their top positions are going to be knocked easily. But it will be interesting to see their positions in the second to fourth quarters,” he says
Over the March 2002 quarter, total retail managed fund assets grew by more than $6 billion, with strong growth from retail superannuation master funds and retail unit trusts.
Further, retail superannuation master funds remain the largest retail managed fund product type overall at over $91 billion, an increase in excess of $2 billion over the March quarter.
Retail unit trusts were the second-largest product type at $55.8 billion, followed by cash management trusts with $31 billion.
