German asset managers dislodged some of the biggest investment managers in the world to dramatically improve their showing in the 2018 fund-quality league table published by Berlin-based analysts Scope.
Scope rates about 5,900 Ucits investment funds authorised for distribution in the German market, managed by 313 asset managers.
Back in 2017, only one German manager – Deka, a subsidiary of Germany’s DekaBank, which ranked 10th – was listed in the league table that ranked fund quality among large asset managers (which have 25 or more funds available in the German market). One year on, Deka has moved up to sixth place.
Metzler, a unit of Metzler Bank, saw a meteoric rise rising from 32nd to joint second in 2018 alongside Investec.
The ranking system evaluates the quality of a fund within its peer group. The rating reflects, among other things, the long-term earning power and stability of fund performance as well as the risk of loss and timing risk.
Meanwhile, five mega US asset managers – Goldman Sachs AM, State Street, Legg Mason, JPMorgan and Invesco – fell out of the top 10.
The number one position is held by Austrian fund manager Kepler-Fonds.
“The increased presence of German managers in the top 10 is significant because the quantitative ranking tends to favour foreign managers, which generally allow only a fraction of their funds – and their most successful – to be distributed in Germany,” Scope said in a statement.
“German managers, on the other hand, are ranked on their entire product offering.”
Among asset managers with fewer than 25 funds distributed in Germany, Comgest lost its top position in Q1 2018, falling to third behind fellow French manager DNCA Finance and Luxembourg-domiciled Sparinvest.
