Retail managed funds see $46.9bn growth in September quarter

The Plan for Life analysis of retail managed funds for the September quarter of 2009 has shown growth of $46.9 billion.

The analysis of funds and flows directly marketed by each group showed that overall retail managed funds jumped 10.2 per cent during the September quarter to total $507.2 billion. After two strong quarters of growth since the lows of February/March, the overall retail managed funds market is now only 2.1 per cent lower than in September 2008, when the financial crisis began.

The report stated that most companies reported modest falls in business year on year, although increases were seen by BT following its takeover of St George, and by Commonwealth/Colonial and Mercer.

Gross inflows increased by 4.9 per cent to $59.2 billion during the September quarter, although they are still down 22.5 per cent over the last 12 months.

Year on year, all the major companies except BT reported lower inflows, with some of the lowest inflows recorded by National Australia Bank/MLC (-47.4 per cent), Goldman Sachs JBWere (-29.2 per cent) and Commonwealth/Colonial (-29.2 per cent).

Looking at all retail managed funds (excluding cash trusts), overall funds under management in the year to September were up only 0.2 per cent. Gross inflows for the quarter increased by 3.7 per cent, but were down over the year, with nearly all companies reporting double digit percentage falls in their inflows.

When it came to superannuation and rollovers, funds increased slightly by 1.8 per cent over the past year, with BT (64.8 per cent), Macquarie (14.2 per cent), ING Australia (10.1 per cent), Commonwealth/Colonial (5.2 per cent), Mercer (4.2 per cent) and National Australia Bank/MLC (4.0 per cent) all reporting positive growth. Overall gross inflows for the quarter fell by 17.1 per cent, while year on year they were down by 20.0 per cent, with most companies experiencing significant decreases in their superannuation business inflows.

Funds in the retirement income market during the September quarter grew by 10 per cent, while over the past year they were also up by 1.2 per cent. BT, Macquarie, Challenger and Commonwealth/Colonial saw the highest funds growth. Inflows jumped 27.6 per cent in the September quarter, although still down dramatically by 36.3 per cent year on year.