Nikko Asset Management NZ has continued its rapid rise up the retail fund rankings, according to the latest Strategic Insight (SI) survey, cracking through the $1 billion mark for the first time.
The figures from Australian research and actuarial firm SI (previously known as Plan for Life) show Nikko was by far the fastest-growing retail fund manager in NZ over both the quarterly and annual periods ending in June 30 this year.
Nikko retail assets jumped over 58 per cent over the 12 months to June 30 and almost 24 per cent in the latest quarter, the SI survey says, finishing the period on $1.06 billion compared to $671 million as at end June 2015.
The result has seen Nikko inch above the newly-branded Booster (formerly Grosvenor) into ninth place in the SI top 10 NZ retail list.
Nikko also added almost 50 per cent to its retail market share over the 12-month period, growing from 1 per cent as at June 2015 to 1.4 per cent in the latest SI survey.
George Carter, Nikko NZ chief, said the retail growth was “very pleasing” and came off the back of a concerted effort to communicate clearly with the financial advisory market.
“It’s a combination of having good products to offer the retail market and a commitment to servicing,” Carter said.
With the exception of ANZ and Westpac (up from 12.2 per cent to 12.5 per cent) most of the managers covered by SI either held market share steady or retreated slightly during the year.
Despite being statistically-challenged as the largest manager, ANZ added 1 per cent to its market share over the 12 months ending June 30 to claim 30 per cent (over $22.3 billion) of total NZ retail funds under management.
Only AMP and Mercer, which both reported annual growth-rates of 3.5 per cent compared to the double-digit results of rivals, lost market share over the year. AMP dropped from 13.9 per cent to 12.8 per cent market share during the 12-month period as Mercer faded from 6.5 per cent to 6.1 per cent.
Conditions were also tough for managers outside the top 10 where total market share of this group fell from 8.9 per cent to 8.3 per cent in the 12 months to June 30.
The 10 largest managers account for about $68 billion of the almost $74.4 billion NZ retail funds market, the SI figures show.
Overall, NZ retail FUM grew 2.1 per cent over the June quarter and almost 12 per cent in the 12-month period.
“Three quarters of this growth was due to further significant positive net flows over the past year while the balance came from modest but importantly still mildly positive performances on underlying investment markets,” the SI report says.
KiwiSaver, up almost 19 per cent annually (about $5.6 billion) and 3.8 per cent in the June quarter, underwrote most of the retail fund growth with other non-super funds tipping in a further $2.3 billion in the 12-month period.
Unsurprisingly, given the government-mandated status, KiwiSaver has accelerated its share of the retail market, closing out the period with 47.2 per cent of FUM compared to 44.4 per cent 12 months previously. Other managed funds/unit trusts retail market share declined from 44.8 per cent in June 2015 to 43.1 per cent in the latest SI report.
Meanwhile, retail super funds held nominal FUM close to $6.8 billion over the 12 months to June 30 as market share dipped from 10.3 per cent to 9.2 per cent.
“Gross inflows for the year to June were NZ$20.7bn, up 12.8%, on the previous twelve months total,” the SI survey says, “during the June quarter reported Inflows increased 16.0%. Nikko, ANZ, Mercer, Kiwi Wealth and BT/Westpac all reported very significant double-digit percentage increases in their annual inflows.”
