Master funds continue market surge
Master trusts are continuing to outstrip their traditional retail fund counterparts in terms of asset growth and fund flows according to research firm Plan For Life.
For the year ending September 30 2003, non-super master funds reaped net fund inflows of $2.88 billion, which appeared to be at the expense of non-super retail funds given this sector suffered similar levels of outflows with $2.98 billion pouring out over the period.
The pattern was similar for super master trusts and retail funds, with the former experiencing inflows of $7.36 billion and the latter outflows of just under $1 billion.
However despite these outflows non-super retail funds continue to hold sway in that part of the market in terms of net assets, with $47 billion in assets compared to non-super master trust assets of $37.5 billion.
In super however master trusts are dominant with a staggering $107 billion in assets compared to only $19 billion for traditional retail super funds.
As for particular asset classes, Plan For Life managing director Simon Solomon notes that Australian equities ($128 million) was the growth area over the September quarter, while balanced funds (down $180 million), capital guaranteed (down $287 million) and fixed rate (down $56 million) investments experienced a decline.
Cash funds also experienced large outflows (down $360 million) due to some investors re-entering the market after a period of sitting on the sidelines.
The total size of the retail funds management market according to Plan For Life is just over $300 billion.
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