Little growth in funds under advice: DEXX&R

Australian funds under management and advice (FUM/A) saw little growth overall in the year to June 2016, according to research house DEXX&R.

FUM/A held in retail and wholesale managed funds grew by a sluggish 0.2 per cent over the year, climbing to $1.117 trillion from the $1.115 trillion at the end of 2014-15.

The retirement income segment of retail super and investment markets saw the biggest growth, with a 2.1 per cent increase in FUM/A, while employer super was the poorest-performing segment, with a 1.7 per cent decrease, DEXX&R said.

“The stagnation in FUM/A growth across all sectors reflects the impact of low investment returns in the major asset classes and negative returns in some other asset classes.

“Across the major retail segments, multi-sector returns for the 12 months to 30 June 2016 averaged 1 per cent, Australian shares 0.5 per cent and international shares negative 3.0 per cent,” the firm said.

AMP appears to have been the best-performing manager, with a 6.2 per cent rise in FUM/A, but DEXX&R noted that “a significant portion of AMP’s increase” was the result of a reclassification that saw the inclusion of additional FUM/A not reported in the previous quarter.

The Commonwealth Bank saw a 1.9 per cent decline in its FUM/A in the year to June 2016, down to $138.5 billion, although the bank did record increases both in its retirement income and its non-super retail investments.