New Zealand retail fund growth steady in Q4 2011
New Zealand retail funds under management (FUM) grew by 3.4 per cent in the December 2011 quarter to $28.6 billion, replicating growth in the same period in 2010, according to data released by Plan For Life.
Retail FUM rose by 6 per cent for the whole of 2011, and gross inflows in the sector were $7.6 billion for the year - up from $6.7 billion in 2010.
The biggest rise in retail FUM was experienced by Fisher Funds (up 40.8 per cent), Gareth Morgan (up 33.3 per cent), BT/Westpac (up 17.3 per cent) and ASB Group (up 17.2 per cent).
The Government-sponsored superannuation scheme KiwiSaver (which is managed by external providers) saw strong growth in the December quarter, with FUM up a further 7.5 per cent to $11.6 billion.
KiwiSaver saw FUM rise by 38.3 per cent for the year, despite "nervous underlying investment markets which were more often than not in negative rather than positive territory", according to Plan For Life.
The remainder of the superannuation sector saw FUM fall by 1.2 per cent during the December quarter, and by 11.9 per cent for the entire 2011 calendar year. Mercer and AMP saw the smallest falls, with -0.8 per cent and -5.7 per cent drops respectively.
However, gross inflows into superannuation outside KiwiSaver climbed by 14.9 per cent in 2010, despite a 24.5 per cent decline in the December quarter.
Unit trusts and managed fund FUM decreased by 6.7 per cent during 2010, and insurance and investment bonds were down 0.8 per cent.
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