Refinitiv’s H1 2019 Summary of the South African Fund Market Industry, Using Lipper Data

• SA fund industry enjoyed net inflows of $4.8bn in H1 2019
• Mixed-assets funds were the asset type with the highest assets under management at the end of June 2019
• Nedgroup Investments was the best-selling fund promoter for H1 2019
• Bond funds was the best-selling asset type in the first half of 2019

Refinitiv recently summarized the South African Fund Market industry for the first half of 2019 using its Lipper data, showing a mixed bag of fund performance. According to Lipper, the South African fund industry enjoyed estimated net inflows of $4.8 bn in H1 2019. These inflows occurred in a volatile but positive market environment driven by discussions about a possible trade war between the U.S. and China, a possible return of the euro crisis caused by developments in Italy and France, and a general economic slowdown with decreasing earnings at the company level.

Furthermore, assets under management in the South African fund industry increased from $168.9 bn to $184.2 bn in 2019 year to date. This increase was driven by the performance of the underlying markets of +$10.5 bn, while net sales contributed inflows of $4.8 bn.

“Generally speaking, the year 2019 has so far been a tough year, with split results for some asset managers in the South African fund management industry. Nevertheless, the year can be considered as a positive year so far as mutual funds  have enjoyed net inflows of +$4.8 bn. Since the equity markets showed a rebound over the course of H1 2019, one would have expected to see net inflows into mutual funds,” said xx

Nedgroup Investments, with net sales of $1.0 bn, was the best-selling fund promoter for H1 2019 overall, well ahead of Stanlib at +$0.6 bn, Investec at +$0.4 bn, Allan Gray +$0.4 bn, and Satrix Managers (Pty) at +$0.3 bn.

Equity Emerging Markets Global suffered the highest estimated net outflows overall at -$0.2 bn, bettered by Equity South Africa at -$0.1 bn, Bond Global USD at -$0.1 bn, Mixed-Asset USD Balanced Global at -$0.1 bn, and Mixed Asset USD Flexible Global at -$0.1 bn.

“Trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies, China and the US, have caused emerging market currencies to slowdown in growth. We expect this to continue in the second half of 2019 and for this reason, amongst others, the South African Fund Market will continue to be a bag of mixed performance,” said Detlef Glow, Head of EMEA Research at Lipper from Refinitiv.