Retail fund flows given March quarter boost
Retail funds under administration (FUA) grew 4.6 per cent in the first quarter of this year to finish the 12 months to March at $510.5 billion, 1.8 per cent below the $519.8 billion seen in March 2011.
However, much of this growth would have been undone by recent stock market drops, according to Plan For Life.
The only major platform provider to experience positive growth in the 12 months to March 2011 was BT, which grew 2.1 per cent (including a 5 per cent jump in the quarter) to $97.9 billion and maintained its leading market share.
AMP was down fractionally over the 12 months but grew 4.5 per cent in the quarter to $81.3 billion. NAB/MLC shed 3.1 per cent over the 12 months but recovered somewhat with 5.7 per cent FUA growth in the quarter to finish at $78.8 billion.
Overall gross inflows grew by 3.8 per cent to $37.4 billion during the quarter but were down 0.4 per cent year-on-year as growth in retirement incomes was offset by a fall in cash trust inflows.
The wholesale funds market grew $13 billion over the quarter to $260 billion but was still down significantly on March 2011 levels of $276 billion.
NAB/MLC was one of the few to record positive growth, up 2.7 per cent for the year to $29.5 billion to reclaim top billing from AMP (down 16 per cent for the year to $24.2 billion).
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