Overall winner, Money Management Fund Manager of the Year

1st: Colonial First State

2nd: Merrill Lynch Mercury Asset Management

3rd: Commonwealth Financial Services

A strong team and a focused strategy were the key factors that pushed Colonial First State into first place for Money Management's overall fund manager of the year award in 1998.

Headed by chief executive officer Chris Cuffe, Colonial First State had another strong year in 1998, thanks to its traditional strength in equities.

That, combined with Colonial First State's focus on growth in a year which favoured growth stocks over value stocks, and the investment skills of its team leaders and members, were enough to land the award.

"Colonial First State has a well defined growth focus, which is similar across all asset classes," says ASSIRT research manager Patrick Bennett.

"Plus they have been doing things the same way for a long time."ASSIRT's manager of funds research, Carolyn Hampton, also attributes Colonial First State's success to its investment team, led by head of equities Greg Perry, head of fixed interest Warren Bird, and head of property Sandy Calder.

"The skills of their team has created a strong engine for their investment performances," she says.Colonial First State's traditional strength in equities netted the fund manager individual awards this year in the categories of Multi-sector trusts and Allocated Pensions & Annuities, and a second placing in the Equity and Superannuation award categories.

Runner-up Merrill Lynch Mercury Asset Management also owed its excellent overall performance to its strength in equities. This led to MLM receiving individual awards in the Superannuation and Equity Trust categories, as well as third place in the Global Unit Trust category.

And third-placegetter Commonwealth Financial Services is such a newcomer to the scene that ASSIRT's research team have not yet even rated the manager.

But its strong performance across the award categories, particularly its first place award in Global Unit Trusts and second placing in the Multi-sector Trust category, should sound a warning to other fund managers that the banks are now on the march.