Japan's love affair with managed funds
In a sign which indicates the improving financial environment in Asia, Japan has taken the third position among the world's biggest managed fund markets while the US and France maintain their places in the top two spots.
In a sign which indicates the improving financial environment in Asia, Japan has taken the third position among the world's biggest managed fund markets while the US and France maintain their places in the top two spots.
Fuelled by a robust stock market and increasing strength of the Yen, Japan shot past Italy to take the third place with more than US$508 billion at the end of October, ahead of Italy, with almost US$475 billion.
This is a reversal of the June positions which saw Italy with US$466 billion in fund assets, while Japan had US$415 billion, according to Cerulli Associates.
Cerulli global money management industry consultant Ben Phillips says: "The surg-ing yen and flaccid euro'' helped Japan surpass Italy in dollar terms in October.
Japan's excellent stock market performance has also seen investors pour money into equity funds Phillips says, however only 4 per cent of Japan's personal financial assets were in mutual funds last year which left ample room for continued expansion.
This compares to the USA with about 23 per cent of personal financial assets in mu-tual funds, 10 percent in France and Italy, 9 per cent in Germany and 6 per cent in the U.K.
Japanese brokerages control the biggest slice of the growing managed fund pie with
Daiwa Securities with US$135 billion in fund under management, Nomura Securities with US$126 billion and Nikko Securities third with almost US$83 billion in October.
International financial companies taking advantage of the growing demand for man-aged funds include Fidelity with US$5.9 billion in October and Merrill with over US$4.4 billion in October.
AUTHOR
Jason Spits
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