Growth strong despite ebbing inflows
The retail managed fund sector grew by $8.5 billion during the March quarter to push assets under management up to $328.1 billion and give the sector an annualised growth rate of 13.3 per cent, according to research group Plan for Life (PFL).
According to the Melbourne-based firm, the retail fund market grew by an average of 2.7 per cent over the quarter withSt George,AXA AustraliaandPerpetualregistering the strongest growth in funds under management.
St George posted an increase in inflows of 5.1 per cent with AXA Australia and Perpetual following with 3.6 and 3.7 per cent increases respectively.
Retail inflows fell by 6.3 per cent to $36 billion during the March 2004 quarter but PLF says this is consistent with the past twelve months, the latest figures down a marginal 0.9 per cent on the same time last year.
The highest inflow growth rates over the year were achieved byTrust Company of Australia,UBS Global Asset Management.
PFL reports that National Australia/MLCsuffered more than a fifty per cent drop off in gross inflows during the quarter. Other managers to post a decline in inflows were Commonwealth/ColonialandBT/Westpac, with inflows dropping off by 31.5 and 29.8 per cent.
During the March quarter, total wholesale funds under management grew by an average of 3.3 per cent with AXA Australia and UBS achieving the highest annual growth rates.
Although, as with their retail counterparts, the wholesale fund business experienced a fall in inflows during the March quarter, down by 13.6 per cent on the same period last year.
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