ANZ recorded the highest increase in gross annual retail funds flow, according to the latest Plan for Life (PFL) NZ market figures, while both AMP and Milford Asset Management fell into negative-growth territory.
“Significant annual inflow growth was experienced by ANZ (39.2%), Mercer (37.3%), Kiwi Wealth (29.4%), Nikko (24.5%), BNZ (12.7%) and BT / Westpac (11.9%) while those of AMP (-27.0%) and Milford (-15.8%) were both substantially lower,” the PFL March 2016 quarterly NZ report says.
Gross annual NZ retail funds flow increased 12.4 per cent topping $20 billion for the first time in the 12 months to March 31 this year, the Australia research house figures show, with the latest gross quarterly flows of $4.4 billion down 6 per cent on the previous three-month period.
On a net basis (including investment performance and flows), the NZ retail funds market grew almost $8.3 billion over the 12 months ending March 31, closing out the period at about $73 billion, up 12.8 per cent year-on-year and 2.8 per cent during the quarter.
“These increases were despite uninspiring performances on directionless underlying investment markets that only generated overall annual investment earnings of 2.2%…” the PFL report says. “Nevertheless most of the companies reported significant increases in their funds under management over the past year with double digit percentage increases being posted by Nikko (54.7%), BT / Westpac (16.9%), Kiwi Wealth (16.3%), Grosvenor (16.3%), ANZ (15.8%), ASB (12.8%), Milford (11.5%) and Fisher (10.5%).”
Mercer (6.9 per cent) and AMP (3.9 per cent) scored the lowest annual retail funds growth of the 10 largest managers as measured by PFL.
Over the March quarter, Nikko and Grosvenor recorded the highest growth rate of 4 per cent, finishing the period on $857 million and $1 billion respectively. ANZ, Mercer and BT/Westpac all grew more than 3 per cent over the three-month period as AMP (1.5 per cent) and Kiwi Wealth (1.3 per cent) occupied the bottom ranks of the top 10 managers.
Managers outside the top 10 largest share about $6.5 billion between them, the PFL figures show, equating to 8.9 per cent of the total market (down from 9 per cent as at March 2015).
As expected, the growth in NZ retail funds was underpinned by the quasi-compulsory KiwiSaver market, which was up 4.4 per cent over the quarter and 18.8 per cent annually, to sit at just above $33.8 billion as at March 31 (or 46.4 per cent of the total NZ retail market).
Non-KiwiSaver retail unit trusts funds under management were up almost 10 per cent over the year and 1.8 per cent on a quarterly basis to $31.9 billion, representing 43.8 per cent total market share.
At the same time, both the ‘other superannuation’ and ‘insurance and investment bonds’ sectors fell -0.2 per cent and -0.7 per cent respectively during the March quarter.
While funds under management for the ‘other superannuation’ products – old-school retail super offerings – grew 0.8 per cent over the year to $6.8 billion, the sector now accounts for just 9.4 per cent of the total retail market, down from 10.5 per cent a year earlier.