It will be welcome news for the fund industry, which saw a fall of more than £10bn in the last quarter of 2011 and takes the total net asset value of funds under management and administration in the jurisdiction to £270bn, as at the end of March, a growth of £6.4bn or 2.4% year on year.
Fiona Le Poidevin, deputy chief executive of promotional body Guernsey Finance, said: “It is very pleasing to see the depreciation in the value of our funds business during the final quarter of last year was almost completely recovered during the first three months of 2012.”
The figures show the Guernsey closed-ended sector grew the most, clocking up a value of £124bn at the end of March – an increase of 4% over the three month period and up £9.1bn compared to the twelve months earlier.
Meanwhile, open-ended funds reached a net asset value of £55.8bn at the end of March, an increase of £0.5bn over Q4 last year but down £1.8bn year on year.
Non-Guernsey schemes, where some aspect of management, administration or custody is carried out in the Island, grew by £3.4bn during the quarter to reach £90.4bn at the end of March, £0.8bn lower than the value at the end of March 2011.
Horace Camp, who was recently installed as the new chairman of the Guernsey Investment Fund Association, said: “The fact this [growth] is largely the result of new business coming to the island is a major vote of confidence in the standards of our fund administrators, custodians and support services. The general economic malaise, particularly in the Eurozone, does mean we need to be cautious but this has been a promising start to the year.”
