The Southeast Asian mutual fund market has been growing at a rate of 31 percent per annum for the last five years to December 2006, and has reached nearly $70 billion in assets, according to Cerulli Associates, an international asset management research firm.
In its first-ever report focused entirely on the Southeast Asian mutual fund market, Cerulli Associates found that despite an Asian crisis in the late-1990s that nearly decimated many markets in the region, the mutual fund industry has picked back up. In all markets except the Philippines, this asset growth can be attributed to a combination of rising market values and net investment inflows.
“Based on the findings of our report, we believe that the Southeast Asian fund industry is able to continue on its current strong growth trajectory, despite ongoing market volatility,” said Shiv Taneja, Cerulli Associates’ managing director. “We feel very positive about the regulatory reform and investor education we are seeing in the region, and the fact that the region as a whole is getting wealthier.”