Diversified financials group Axa Asia Pacific has revealed a 34 per cent drop in its total retail and wholesale net inflows for calendar 2006.
The group released its annual new business and fund flows statement at the end of January. It showed net inflows from its retail and wholesale business had collapsed to $6.28 billion from $9.55 billion for the corresponding period in 2005.
The firm blamed the lamentable figures on its fund manager subsidiary, Alliance Bernstein, which last year lost more than $2 billion worth of investment mandates.
As a result, its net wholesale inflows plummeted 45 per cent from $4.5 billion for the calendar 2005 to just $2.45 billion last year.
It is not known who the clients that terminated Alliance Bernstein are, but in June 2006 it lost a global equities mandate from Queensland-based AustSafe Super, the rural and regional industries super fund, and an Australian fixed interest mandate from the Victoria-based Electronic Data Systems Super fund.
Axa Asia Pacific’s annual statement also showed total Australia and New Zealand net retail inflows were almost double that of last year, up 82 per cent to $2.85 billion from $1.56 billion in 2005.
In Australia alone, net retail inflows were up 76 per cent to $2.77 billion, from $1.58 billion in 2005. The firm said the leap in retail inflows was due to increased inflows into its superannuation products.
Superannuation net inflows showed an increase of 56 per cent to $1.34 billion, up from $0.86 billion in 2005, due to strong inflows into Axa Asia Pacific’s platform personal superannuation products.
