Assets managed by Australia's largest investment firms jumped 20 per cent in 2009 and Macquarie Group overtook Colonial First State (CFS) as the nation's biggest fund manager during the period, according to new research.
The Towers Watson and Pension & Investments global 500 ranking said Australian managers had US$568 billion in assets under management (AUM) at the end of 2009, compared to US$475 billion last year.
Overall assets managed by 500 of the globe's biggest fund managers rose 16 per cent in 2009 to US$62 trillion.
"In Australia, growth over the year has mostly been driven by market and organic growth but, similar to the global trend, there has also been some merger and acquisition activity," Towers Watson Australia senior investment consultant Martin Goss said.
He said the strong performances by Australian fund managers meant that more managers moved up the rankings than down.
"This can be attributed to a high level of equity management by Australia's largest managers, the outperformance of Australian equities vis-a-vis international equities, and the strengthening of the Australian dollar relative to the US dollar," Goss said.
"It is also interesting to note the total assets of Australian fund managers are still not the same as pre-global financial crisis levels of US$691 billion as at 31 December 2007."
There were 15 Australian managers in the survey and collectively they made up 0.9 per cent of the universe, about the same as last year.
Macquarie Group moved up to 116 overall from 126 in 2008, topping rival CFS in the process to become Australia's biggest fund manager. Macquarie Group moved up partly thanks to its acquisition of US fund manager Delaware Investments last year. Macquarie had US$111 billion in AUM.
CFS was ranked 140 with AUM of US$80 billion, AMP was ranked 137 with nearly $85 billion, National Australia Bank/MLC was 157 with US$66 billion and QIC was 175 with US$55 billion.
US manager BlackRock topped the overall list with US$3.3 trillion, followed by State Street Global Advisors at US$1.9 trillion and Germany's Allianz at US$1.8 trillion.
