Plan for Life confirms struggling markets
The latest Plan for Life data has served to confirm market caution, revealing a relatively subdued March quarter and “a fairly flat year where underlying investment markets generally struggled to find any really sustained and solid direction”.
Of particular concern was an almost halving of cash trust business driven by the Government’s bank guarantee.
The Plan for Life data revealed that gross inflows grew by 7.8 per cent to $38 billion during the March quarter but noted that, year on year, they were down significantly by 22.4 per cent due mainly to a further halving of the remaining cash trust business during the year.
The data revealed that Mercer (8.2 per cent), AMP (3.6 per cent), Commonwealth/Colonial (2.6 per cent), BT (2.1 per cent) and National Australia Bank/MLC (1 per cent) were the only leading companies to report any growth, albeit modest to slight.
Looking at all retail managed funds, the Plan for Life data revealed a 1.9 per cent increase over the year and concluded “this result probably better sums up the actual performance of the retail managed funds market, as it excludes the effect of the continued exodus out of cash trusts”.
It said the cash trust business was almost halved during the year, down by 49.1 per cent as cash deposit type business continued to be moved into the banking system attracted by the Government guarantee.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
Recommended for you
Large AFSLs with more than 100 advisers are seeing the largest losses in both adviser and AFSL numbers as individuals seek a smaller, personal vision in their work.
Former deputy CEO of AMP Capital, David Atkin, has announced he will be returning to Australia after stepping down as chief executive of the Principles for Responsible Investment organisation.
A global Morgan Stanley report has found 83 per cent of Asia-Pacific individual investors would select a financial adviser based on their sustainable investment offerings, and are most understanding of how ESG can boost returns.
Insignia Financial has announced the status of the two private equity bidders as due diligence comes to an end, with one bidder opting to pull out.
