Managed account registrations continued to rise in 4Q24

Broadly in line with the five-year rolling average for the period, APIR Systems recorded 197 financial product registrations for the December quarter, which the firm’s chief executive, Chris Donohoe, said indicated a “strong and consistent trend of new product issuance by the industry”.

“The data builds on the solid start to the 2024–25 financial year, with strong registrations also seen in the September quarter,” Donohoe said.

APIR Systems, which identifies, codes and manages reference data for unlisted financial products, also noted continued growth momentum in managed accounts registrations in the December quarter, with a total of 25, marking a 66 per increase on the rolling five-year average for the period.

As the financial advice industry continues to favour managed accounts for their greater efficiency, Donohoe said they continue to see “exponential growth” in managed accounts, which has ultimately resulted in the number of active products doubling over the last three years.

“This growth in SMA products demonstrates the continued evolution of the managed accounts and how the industry is leveraging off the significant benefits of the APIR coding regime,” he said.

However, product terminations were up 20 per cent for the rolling five-year average of this period, reporting a total of 192, leaving a net gain of just seven for the December quarter.

Though Donohoe explained that this was largely driven by several joint data quality projects undertaken to cleanse and clean up APIR customers’ legacy products.

“We’ve been working closely with our customer base to streamline their product offerings and, by being proactive, we keep our data relevant,” Donohoe said.

Meanwhile, the firm also reported the registration of seven new participants using the APIR coding regime during the quarter, much in line with the quarterly average.

Finally, as technology and product innovation continues to evolve, Donohoe said APIR’s strategy is to “stay ahead of the curve” in relation to industry developments.

“We’re keeping a keen eye on how global and domestic geopolitical factors, coupled with advancements in artificial intelligence, shape product development,” he said.