APIR Systems (APIR) says a record number of new managed funds drove a high level of product registrations in the year ending 30 June 2024 and growth is likely to remain strong.

According to APIR chief executive, Chris Donohoe, while overall product registrations were steady from last year, they ended the financial year at 15.7 per cent above the rolling 5-year average level.

“We have seen consistently higher levels of managed investment products registered for several years now, with 737 new registrations in 2023-24.  This data suggests the industry continues to develop new products and leverage the benefits of the APIR coding regime,” Mr Donohoe said.  

APIR identifies, codes and manages reference data for unlisted financial products. In its 30 years of operation, APIR has identified over 30,000 individual financial products.

Key highlights from 2023-24 data include:

• Managed investment products (MIPs) continue to be the industry’s dominant product choice making up 85.3 per cent of total 2023-24 registrations.
• MIP registrations in 2023-24 finished 28.6 per cent above the rolling 5-year average.
• Managed accounts (SMA model) registrations were again strong being 28.2 per cent above the rolling 5-year average.  
• There was a noticeable slowdown in the rationalisation of superannuation investment options during 2023-24.
• There were 39 new participant (i.e. product issuers such as Responsible Entities and Trustees) registrations in 2023-24, driving a net increase of 7.7 per cent on the prior year.

Meanwhile, after several years of rationalisation of superannuation investment options, product termination numbers for 2023-24 were significantly down on both the prior year, (66.5 per cent) and the rolling 5-year average (29.4 per cent). 

“This reflects the superannuation industry’s relative stability after several years of mergers and acquisitions within retail super,” said Mr Donohoe.

Looking ahead to 2024-25, Mr Donohoe expects continued innovation as product issuers try to differentiate themselves from peers, noting that Corporate Collective Investment Vehicles (CCIVs) are likely to be adopted over the coming 12-18 months.

Further analysis on key attributes of APIR’s managed investment product registration data will be released in coming weeks.

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