Assets Surge at World’s Largest Fund Managers
Assets under management of the biggest fund managers pushed past $80 trillion for the first time.
Total assets under management (AuM) of the world’s largest 500 managers grew to $81.2 trillion in 2016, up 5.8 percent on the previous year, according to latest figures from Willis Towers Watson’s Global 500 research.
The research, which takes into account data up to the end of 2016, shows that AuM for Asia Pacific managers in the global ranking totalled $6.9 trillion, up 1.3 percent on the year.
Tokyo on Top
Japan at $4.7 trillion, represents the largest share of the assets managed by managers domiciled in Asia Pacific, followed by Australia with $1.1 trillion. Assets managed by 21 mainland Chinese managers amounted to approximately $1.1 trillion in 2016, which would rise to $1.2 trillion if the AuM of four Hong Kong managers ($123 billion) is included.
The research also shows that during the five-year period from end-2015 to end-2016, there was an increase in the representation of managers from mainland China (from 0.3 percent in 2011 to 1.3 percent in 2016) among the top 500 managers.
China Still Rising
In contrast, the representation of managers from Japan declined during this period from 8.4 percent in 2011 to 4.6 percent in 2016. The share of total assets managed by Australia and South Korea managers has been relatively stable during the period.
Harvest Fund Management (ranked 109) is the largest among the 21 mainland Chinese managers who responded for the survey, followed by China Asset Management (ranked 123) and CCB Principal Asset Management (ranked 153).
«Given the scale of the retail and private wealth sectors in mainland China, we believe the expanding population of middle- and higher-income individuals still offers the potential for stronger asset growth for managers in China,» said Richard Tan, head of Manager Research for Asia at Willis Towers Watson.
