Fund assets serviced in Guernsey only rose by 0.7% to $399.3bn (£305.4bn, €349.8bn) at the end of June 2018, compared to 2017, according to Monterey Insight.
This new findings come from the fund research company’s Guernsey Fund Report, which revealed the market share of all service providers in the island’s funds industry.
Last year’s report showed there was a 2.8% increase in fund assets serviced in Guernsey at the end of June 2017, compared to 2016.
Growth slowed
Monterey Insight’s managing director Karine Pacary told International Adviser that the reasons for the small rise this year were that “the total by assets for newly launched funds was lower than last year” and “although organic growth increased in 2018, the number of redemptions, liquidations and funds transferred nullified that positive outcome”.
Pacary added: “In a landscape where private equity and venture capital funds hold a prime position, Guernsey continues to be recognised as a reliable and trusted market.”
Similarly, Dominic Wheatley, chief executive, Guernsey Finance said: “Guernsey’s funds sector has had a successful 2018 so far and there is considerable confidence among industry practitioners.
“The Monterey report itself is positive and our industry is certainly and justifiably expressing confidence about the future.”
Serviced and sub-funds
The report also found that Guernsey managed to attract 21 new promoters to establish funds in the island and, combined with the existing promoters, more than 140 new serviced funds and sub-funds were launched between June 2017 and 2018, accounting for $19.3bn.
Around 95 funds and sub-funds domiciled in Guernsey were launched during the year, accounting for $15.5bn in assets. Of these 58 sub-funds were private equities with a total net asset of $12.1bn, representing 78.1% in assets of the newly launched product.
For serviced funds, private equities funds were the most popular product, accounting for $259.2bn compared with $250.3bn in 2017 – a 3.6% increase.
The number of serviced schemes increased to 1,077 and the total number of sub-funds reached 1,323 (compared with 1,018 and 1,363 in 2017, respectively).
Wheatley said: “We are seeing new inquiries regularly, including from new promoters. There were 26 funds and sub-funds launched during Q2 and our new products, including our Private Investment Fund and the Guernsey Green Fund, have been well received.”
Company rankings
For fund administration services across both domiciled and non-domiciled funds, Northern Trust remained the largest by total net assets with $65bn and by number of sub-funds (188). It was followed by Ipes with $47bn and Apax Partners in third position with $39.3bn.
Northern Trust came first in the custodian league table of serviced funds with $25.7bn. BNP Paribas Securities Services preserved its second position with $10.6bn, ahead of Kleinwort Hambros at $6.6bn.
Among the transfer agents, Northern Trust again came out on top, with $53.6bn. Ipes maintained its second place with $47bn and Apax Partners rose to third with a total of $39.3bn.
The largest promoter of funds serviced in Guernsey was Apax Partners with $40.4bn. Partners Group climbed to second with $21.1bn, followed by Permira with $15.3bn.
The ranking for auditors remained unchanged, as has been the case for several years. PricewaterhouseCoppers maintained its leading position, auditing 365 funds, ahead of KPMG with 295 funds and EY in third with 124.
The top spots are reversed for the auditors ranking by assets: KPMG leads with $140.3bn, followed by PwC in second with $116.3bn and Deloitte in third with $45.9bn.
Legal advice
Among legal advisers, the ranking remained the same as last year. Carey Olsen stayed top by offering legal advice to 750 funds, followed by Mourant Ozannes with 173 funds and Ogier with 60.
On the market share ranking of assets, Carey Olsen also took top spot, ahead of Mourant Ozannes.
