Retail funds fall

Morningstar’s quarterly report on the state of the managed funds industry shows that Australian retail fund assets fell over the three months of the September 2001 quarter, but were up for the full twelve months to the end of September.

Retail managed fund assets slipped back by $7.6 billion, or 2 per cent, over the September quarter, but were up 5 per cent, or $14 billion, in the 12 months to the end of September. The month closed with the retail fund figure of $262.4 billion amassed throughout the industry.

Of this amount, master funds accounted for more than half of the retail fund assets, which represented a slight increase of just under 1 per cent on the figure 12 months earlier.

Superannuation master funds remained the largest retail managed fund product type, the report says, with more than $84 billion invested. Like the overall retail fund picture, this product dropped over the September quarter, in this case by $718 million. However, over the 12 months to the end of September, retail super master funds rose by $8.5 billion.

The combined Commonwealth/Colonial group remains the largest fund manager, with more than $42 billion. But the banking and funds management giant lost more than a billion in the September quarter, although it also fit the pattern of making a gain on its one year figure by almost $3 billion.

Morningstar notes that the two consolidated groups, namely Commonwealth/Colonial and National/MLC, continue to dominate the retail managed funds market. Combined, they manage more than $79 billion which represents a slice of 30.1 per cent of the total retail market. Their dominance was a slight increase on their share of the market a year ago, which stood at $72.7 billion, or 29.3 per cent of the market.