Thursday 22nd of October 1998

The September quarter funds flow figures provide a dose of good news for the financial services industry.
Both managed fund research houses, FPG Research and IPAC Securities, say the outflow of funds experienced in the March and June quarters has turned around and is now a strong positive inflow.
The size of the turnaround though varies.
IPAC say in the quarter net funds flow turned around by $530 million from an outflow of $102 million to an inflow of $428 million.
FPG calculate New Zealanders poured $544.2 million into managed funds in September compared to an outflow of $75.1 million in the previous quarter.
The other key features of the September figures are that:

Insurance bonds continue their decline

Unit trusts are king, when it comes to preferred product type

Banks are tightening their grasp on new funds flow.

IPAC says insurance bonds have recorded their ninth consecutive quarter of negative funds flow. The main reason for this decline is the removal of the superannuation surcharge and the trend towards "more modern pooled fund types".
However, superannuation funds (which declined last quarter), and group investment funds, also experienced good growth this quarter.
Both research houses confirm the majority of money is going into unit trusts. IPAC say 73 per cent of net flows went into these products, while FPG puts the figure at 70 per cent.
The third major emerging trend is the dominance banks are gaining in the industry.
All the major banks, with the exception of the National Bank, are taking advantage of their strong distribution networks to pull money in the door.
Of the specialist fund managers Tower, Bankers Trust, and Sovereign feature at the top of the net investment flow tables.