The mutual fund and portfolio management sector jointly managed NIS 140 billion in assets, as of February 29, 2004, 9% of the public’s total financial assets, compared with NIS 77 billion as of December 31, 2002, amounting to 6.5% of the public’s financial assets. Meitav provided the figures.
A comparison of the mutual fund and portfolio management industry showed that investment portfolio assets totaled NIS 48 billion as of February 29, 2004, while the mutual fund industry managed NIS 92 billion, but only NIS 35 billion, if the shekel mutual funds are excluded.
Meitav believes that the portfolio management industry is more stable, more competitive, more decentralized, and less profitable than the mutual fund industry. There are more portfolio management companies 130, compared with 45 mutual fund companies.
The banks do not control the investment portfolio industry. While each bank has a portfolio management subsidiary, these companies exert much less control in the market than their counterparts in the mutual fund industry.
Meitav estimates the assets managed by all the bank-controlled investment portfolio companies at NIS 13 billion, only 27% of the industry total. The banks have an 88% share of the mutual fund industry.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on April 29, 2004