News Round Up: May 2

Sunday, May 1st 2011, 3:22PM

Retail fund flows up 96% on year
Net fund flows into retail managed funds totalled $2,504 million, a 96% increase over the corresponding period to March 2010, according to FundSource figures.

In the March 2011 quarter, net fund flows were positive at $821 million, down on the previous quarter figure of $928 million.

KiwiSaver regained top spot over Unit Trusts to post the largest inflows at $750 million, up 16.9% on the December 2010 quarter.

To the year ending March 2011, the retail managed funds sector saw a 6.7% rise in total funds under management to $25 billion, though there were mixed results in terms of growth in funds under management.

KiwiSaver and Unit Trusts increased by 60% and 34% respectively since March 2010, while Group Investment Funds (GIFs), Superannuation Funds and Insurance Bonds fell across the board.

OnePath retained the top spot in manager's rankings for funds under management in this quarter, followed by ASB, AXA and BT. The only change in rankings saw Kiwibank overtake AMP for sixth place.

Tax Freedom Day tomorrow
May 3 is Tax Freedom Day, the notional day when the average New Zealander stops working for the Government and starts working for themselves, according to Business Roundtable executive director Roger Kerr.

"The average New Zealander effectively spends one third of the year working for central Government," he said.

The calculation was based central government core expenditure, forecast to be 33.4% of GDP in the Government's 2010 half-year economic and fiscal update.

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