GUERNSEY’S fund industry remains robust and continues to attract business, according to newly-published research by Lipper.
The 15th Guernsey Fund Encyclopaedia, which is put together by the Thompson Reuter company, found that while the island’s total industry assets fell by nearly 13% to US$289.4bn to the end of June, the fund servicing industry itself rose by more than 6% to reach 2,057 funds and subfunds.
Non-domiciled funds also performed well, rising slightly to reach US$40bn, while private equity fund assets domiciled on the island increased to US$125.3bn.
Ed Moisson, director of fiduciary operations at Lipper, said the results were encouraging. ‘With the rise in the number of funds of funds and the increased assets for private equity funds, Guernsey certainly seems to be able to continue attracting business even in these tougher economic conditions.’
For fund administration services of both domiciled and non-domiciled funds, Northern Trust is the largest administrator with total net assets of US$45.7bn, with International Private Equity Services and Apax Partners second and third with US$34.6bn and US$30.4bn respectively.
Northern Trust also has the largest proportion of assets under custody, with US$21.4bn, ahead of HSBC at US$15.3bn.
Among professional firms, Carey Olsen offers legal advice to 888 funds, ahead of Ozannes with 585.
For auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers looks after the most funds, with 539. KPMG was second with 469 and Ernst & Young came third with 218.
Guernsey Investment Funds Association chairman Grant Cameron said it was no surprise to see that industry assets had fallen.
‘Market values are at significantly lower levels than they were a year ago in almost all sectors.’
But he was encouraged by the increase in the number of funds because it showed that the industry remained robust.
In the coming 12 months he expected more new funds to be added, just not at the same pace as was seen a year ago.
Article posted on 26th October, 2009 - 2.30pm
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