Money managers have total assets worth RON15.7 billion under management.
All the managers reported significant profit increases against 2012, by even 90% in the case of Erste Asset Management, in the context where the assets managed by the top five added one billion euros last year.
2013 was the best year in the funds’ history, with the volume of net inflows from investors climbing to almost EUR800 million.
Thus, fund managers became the most profitable segment on the domestic capital market, with their gains overshooting those of brokerages.
“Asset managers are theoretically in the position of providing a service seen as valuable, the identification of rate investment opportunities. Most brokerages in Romania still see their main service, trading, as having a special value. I expect brokerages that will remain anchored in the old way of doing business not only to remain unprofitable, but to go bankrupt as the old generation of clients withdraws or moves to brokers with additional high-quality services,” said Andrei Anghel, CFA and investment consultant with Smart Trade Consult.
He warns that fund managers’ assets are also threatened in the future by a tendency now manifest on foreign markets. “Managers need to become aware that the times of fees of 2-20% will continue only to the extent to which they really find good investment opportunities”.
Raiffeisen Asset Management is the most profitable money manager, with a net profit of RON18.1 million (EUR4 million) in 2013, almost double the 2012 level. In late April, the company had assets worth above RON5 billion under management, placed in eight mutual funds and closed closed-end funds.
Erste Asset Management, the biggest money manager in Romania, with assets worth RON6.7 billion under management at the end of April, ended 2013 with net profit of RON8.2 million (EUR1.86 million), up 90% from 2012.
In 2013, investors placed almost RON4 billion in the 64 mutual funds. The funds managed by Erste Asset Management raised more than half of this sum, being the “driver” of the market just like in the previous years.
Erste Bond Flexible raised over RON1.6 billion last year. The fund has been Romania’s largest investment fund for two years. Major sums were also raised by the funds managed by BT Asset Management (EUR54 million), OTP Asset Management (EUR21 million) and Pioneer Asset Management (EUR21 million).
Twenty investment managers operate on the market of investment funds. Over 90% of the funds’ total assets of RON16.8 billion are in the hands of five managers.
The top five managers are part of financial banking groups.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)