Most NZ retail fund managers saw double-digit (or thereabouts) growth in assets last year, new data from Australian research house Plan for Life (PFL) reveals, largely on the back of buoyant markets.
The PFL data shows Mercer recorded the highest proportional year-on-year growth over 2023 of more than 37 per cent during a period where it assumed control of the former Macquarie (and ex AMP Capital) NZ suite of products.
Following the Macquarie NZ funds bump, Mercer retail assets jumped from about $7.3 billion at the end of 2022 to almost $10 billion by December 31 last year.
The top-up pushed the retail market share for the multi-manager to 5.4 per cent from 4.5 per cent 12 months prior while widening the gap between it and next-largest player, Simplicity, to more than $3 billion.
However, Simplicity clocked in the fastest non merger-assisted growth-rate for 2023 of 22.4 per cent as assets under management rose about $1.2 billion year-on-year to finish at just under $6.8 billion.
A slew of other managers also reported percentage growth in the mid-to-high teens including “Booster (19.5%), BNZ (17.3%), Milford (16.6%), BT / Westpac (15.9%) and Fisher (14.4%)”, the PFL release says.
Respective first- and second-largest retail managers, ANZ and ASB, ended 2023 with middling growth of 9.5 and 9.2 per cent (translating to assets of $33.3 billion and $20.3 billion) well ahead of the still-lagging AMP (4.8 per cent).
The $10.6 billion AMP fell behind, too, in the December quarter with the lowest growth-rate of 3.4 per cent compared to the average of 6.3 per cent and the 9 per cent high (Simplicity).
In aggregate, other managers outside the top 10 also grew almost 9 per cent in the quarter and just above that mark for the 12-month period.
“New Zealand Retail Managed Funds rose 6.3% in the December quarter while over the whole of the 2023 calendar year they were up 13.1% to total NZ$183.4bn main thanks to increases in the market value of their underlying investments and to a lesser degree continued positive net fund flows,” the PFL report says.
“… Year on year overall Gross Inflows for 2023 were 7.3% lower at NZ$30.4bn after dropping 19.1% in the December quarter. While market leader ANZ (-18.4%) along with ASB (-11.8%) and BT / Westpac (-20.4%) all reported significant falls in their annual Inflows those of AMP (27.5%) and Generate (38.9%) were both much higher.”
KiwiSaver, of course, was the fastest-growing sector, up 18.7 per cent in the year and 7 per cent in the December quarter to finish 2023 on almost $105 billion.
Non-KiwiSaver superannuation funds, however, went backwards during the 12-month period from $7.8 billion at the end of 2022 to $7.6 billion at the latest PFL count.
Other managed funds now account for almost $71 billion after annual growth of 7.6 per cent and an increase of 5.8 per cent in the last three months of the year.