NZ retail funds under management surged through the $200 billion threshold in the September quarter, according to new Plan for Life (PFL) figures, as market share trends continued on pace.
The Australian researcher found average FUM-growth of almost 6 per cent during the quarter for the NZ retail fund sector, driving the total to more than $209 billion by September 30 from almost $197 billion three months prior.
During the 12 months to the end of September the market expanded by more than 21 per cent on the back of “buoyant investment earnings” and solid fund flows.
“All the major companies reported significant increases in their funds under management including the five market leaders ANZ (9.6%), ASB (20.7%), Milford (28.6%), Fisher (15.1%) and BT/Westpac (18.2%),” the PFL report says.
In fact, all of the named managers in the table clocked-in double-digit growth for the 12-month period with the exception of market leader, ANZ, which also lagged in the September quarter after reporting 3 per cent increase in assets.
Milford topped the quarterly growth-rate table on 8.4 per cent while finishing second over the 12 months behind Simplicity with respective asset expansions of 28.6 per cent and 30.4 per cent.
However, the aggregate small end of NZ retail funds-town reported the fastest growth over both the quarterly (8.5 per cent) and 12-month (37.7 per cent) periods.
Several managers outside the top 10 named in the PFL are finding support – especially in the KiwiSaver market where challenger brands such as Kernel, InvestNow, Sharesies and Pathfinder have seen strong relative growth.
The ‘other companies’ share of the local retail fund space jumped from 17.1 per cent at the end of September 2023 to 19.4 per cent 12 months later.
Most of the smaller manager growth has likely come in KiwiSaver where Inland Revenue Department (IRD) scheme transfer figures show robust competition during the 12-month period ending November 30 last year.
Almost 156,000 members changed KiwiSaver provider during the 12 months to the end of November, according to the IRD statistics: approximately 143,000 members swapped schemes in the 12 months to June 30, 2024, and roughly 121,400 over the previous annual period.
KiwiSaver remains the largest retail sector with almost $120 billion under management at September 30, however, PFL records other (ex superannuation) funds increased their relative market share a tad over the 12-month stretch to 38.1 per cent (37.9 per cent on the same date in 2023).
Non-super managed funds grew 21.8 per cent over the 12 months to land on almost $80 billion while the KiwiSaver universe increased by 22.2 per cent.
“Gross Inflows rose by over a quarter or 25.9% over the past year to total NZ$44.4bn. ASB (34.0%) and Milford (52.4%) were a couple of leading companies that saw their Inflows jump while by contrast BT / Westpac (-9.8%) reported a fall.”
Manager rankings were static quarter-on-quarter but the third-placed Milford added a further 0.6 per cent to its market share over the 12-month period to reach 10.4 per cent – or almost $22 billion – and pulling ahead of fourth-largest retail manager, Fisher.
Fisher shed 0.5 per cent during the 12 months to September 30 to finish on 10 per cent (or just under $20.1 billion).
Mercer also gained ground on AMP during the year to come within $200 million of the sixth-largest manager: AMP saw its share of the market drop from 5.8 per cent to 5.4 pe cent while Mercer lost 0.1 per cent to end the period on 5.3 per cent.
Meanwhile, ANZ gave up 0.4 per cent market share in the quarter to land on 16.6 per cent at the end of September: on the same date in 2023 the bank-owned manager claimed 18.3 per cent of the retail funds pool.
Despite the relative fade, ANZ remains the largest manager with almost $34.7 billion in the kitty for a gap of about $9.5 billion above the second-placed, ASB, on close to $25.5 billion.