Investors committed R65 billion in net inflows to South African collective investment schemes during the third quarter of this year, the second-highest net quarterly inflows on record.
The record for net inflows was set in the second quarter of 2020, when investors, undeterred by Covid-induced market volatility, pushed net inflows to a historic R88bn.
The CIS industry statistics for the quarter and the year to the end of September, released by the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa (ASISA) this week, also show that for the first time since 2020, a significant portion of quarterly net inflows consisted of new money rather than reinvested income declarations (dividends and interest). Of the R65bn in net inflows attracted in the third quarter of 2025, R27bn was attributable to new investments.
Sunette Mulder, ASISA’s chief of staff, said the healthy net inflows in the third quarter pushed total net inflows for the year to the end of September to R168bn.
The local CIS industry increased its assets under management by nearly 6% over the third quarter, ending September 2025 with R4.4 trillion. According to Mulder, the growth was primarily driven by strong stock market performance, fuelled by a rally in precious metals and mining stocks.
The FTSE/JSE All Share Index outperformed US and UK stock markets in rand terms over the 12-month and three-month periods to the end of September 2025, delivering respective returns of 28.9% and 12.9%.
Mulder also notes that the number of local CIS portfolios available to investors is closing in on 2 000. The CIS industry ended the third quarter of 2025 with 1 936 portfolios, an increase of 80 portfolios from the end of the third quarter 2024.
Most flows into multi-asset portfolios
At the end of September 2025, 50% of all assets were invested in South African multi-asset portfolios.
SA interest-bearing portfolios held 30% of assets, and SA equity portfolios held 19% of CIS AUM. SA real estate portfolios held only 1% of assets.
According to Mulder, SA multi-asset portfolios have been firm investor favourites over the past 12 months and for the quarter to the end of September 2025. These portfolios attracted R93bn of the R186bn in net inflows for the 12 months to the end of September. In the third quarter alone, these portfolios attracted net inflows of R34bn, accounting for more than half of the quarter’s R65bn in net inflows.
Mulder said the most popular multi-asset portfolios were SA multi-asset income portfolios, followed by SA multi-asset high equity portfolios.
Investors continued to shun SA equity portfolios. Mulder said the sector posted net outflows of R10bn for the year to the end of September and R1bn in the third quarter, with the bulk of the outflows suffered by SA equity general portfolios. This was despite SA equity general portfolios delivering average returns of 20.6% over the year to the end of September and 16.3% over five years.
Locally registered foreign portfolios held on to their newly gained threshold of R1 trillion in AUM, ending September 2025 with R1.07 trillion. These portfolios recorded net inflows of R0.6bn for the quarter to the end of September and R8.5bn for the year.
There are 774 foreign currency-denominated portfolios on sale in South Africa.
