Product terminations slow as managed account registrations grow

The September quarter has seen financial product registrations broadly in line with the five-year rolling average for the period at 257, which APIR chief executive Chris Donohoe said indicated a healthy investment industry.

“The data indicates a solid start to the 2024–25 financial year, with the September quarter having the highest average number of product registrations across the four quarters,” Donohoe said.

APIR Systems, which identifies, codes and manages reference data for unlisted financial products, said the vast majority of registrations were managed investment products at 193, up 9.7 per cent on the quarterly average over the past five years.

However, the strongest result in comparison with the rolling five-year average was in managed accounts product registrations. The 49 new products over the three-month period was 82 per cent higher than average.

Superannuation products saw much fewer registrations at just 15, which APIR said was “considerably lower” than average, while 16 new participants registered to use the APIR coding regime during the period, almost double the quarterly average.

Terminations were also down significantly for the September 2024 quarter at 65, putting the net growth in financial products for 1Q25 at almost 200.

“While registrations for the September quarter are in line with the five-year rolling average, it is positive to see a significant overall increase in the number of active products being used by the industry given a slowdown in product terminations,” Donohoe said.

“The September quarter data suggests the industry continues to develop new products and leverage the significant benefits of the APIR coding regime.”

APIR also identified that an ongoing trend in wholesale managed funds registrations continued in the latest quarterly numbers, with 57 per cent identifying as wholesale funds.

Growth-only investment objective funds registered in the quarter also saw an increase at 41, which APIR added makes up 21 per cent, compared with 14 per cent in 2023–24 and 16 per cent in 2022–23.

“With the economic outlook for inflation and interest rates having changed significantly over the past two years, it will be interesting to track these emerging trends as product manufacturers respond to the changing environment,” Donohoe said.