Platforms FUM falls below $1tn
Funds under management (FUM) at wraps, platforms, and master trusts have declined to $982.5 billion, decreasing by $19.5 billion, or 1.9 per cent, as at the end of March 2023, according to research.
Research house Plan For Life’s analysis of platforms’ FUM observes that year on year, inflows have declined by some 5.9 per cent to $164.7 billion.
However, there is a resulting $14.2 billion overall net inflow as outflows rose only by some 3.2 per cent to $150.5 billion.
The movement means total FUM has declined from $1 trillion at the end of March 2022 to $982 billion.
The top four platforms all experienced decreases in FUM. BT saw the largest decline in percentage terms at 7.1 per cent followed by AMP at 6.8 per cent. Commonwealth/Colonial was down 4.5 per cent and Insignia was down by 4.2 per cent.
However, Insignia retained the largest market share at almost $200 billion ($198.5 billion) followed by BT at $162.6 billion. Insignia has seen strong growth in recent years, having held only $77 billion in March 2021.
The platforms that witnessed double-digit percentage growth were Netwealth (14.4 per cent) and HUB24 (16.5 per cent).
Other leaders who finished higher were Praemium (4.9 per cent), Mercer (4.8 per cent), and Macquarie (3.8 per cent).
Earlier this year, HUB24 edged out Netwealth to take the top spot for overall platform functionality, according to Investment Trends’ 2022 Platform Benchmarking and Competitive Analysis Report. Now in its 19th year, it saw HUB24 score 91.5 per cent, followed by Netwealth at 90.7 per cent.
It was a reversal of last year’s results where Netwealth took the top spot with 91.5 per cent and HUB24 had 91.1 per cent.
The recent analysis of wraps, platforms, and master trusts also found that wraps grew as a percentage of the overall market in the last 12 months, rising from 55.1 per cent in March 2022 to 57.3 per cent in March 2023.
However, platforms and master trusts were on the decline, from 36.7 per cent to 34.8 per cent and 8.2 per cent to 7.9 per cent, respectively.
Plan For Life observed that global investment markets had recovered in the last six months to finish fairly flat.
“This was despite central banks ending an unprecedented era of ultra-low interest rates as they normalise their monetary policies in an effort to control inflation,” it added.
AUTHOR
Rhea Nath
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