The collective investment schemes (CIS) industry reached the R4-trillion milestone in the second quarter of this year, ending June with R4.16 trillion in assets under management (AUM).
Sunette Mulder, the chief of staff at the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa (ASISA), said this was achieved on the back of robust growth delivered by South Africa’s equity market and healthy net inflows from investors.
The FTSE/JSE All Share Index (ALSI) outperformed US and UK stock markets in rand terms over the 12 months to the end of June, delivering a return of 25.2%.
The CIS industry statistics for the quarter and the year to the end of June, released by ASISA this week, show that participating CIS management companies recorded total net inflows of R146.13 billion over the 12 months to the end of June, with the bulk of these inflows contributed by existing investors who reinvested income declarations (dividends and interest).
Mulder said although only R23bn of the R146.13bn in annual net inflows represented new money, R18bn in new investments were received during the first half of the year: R12bn in the first quarter of 2025 and R6bn in the second.
South African investors had a choice of 1 899 local CIS portfolios at the end of June.
South African multi-asset portfolios confirmed their position as investor favourites over the year and the quarter, attracting R77bn of the R146.13bn in net inflows over the 12 months to the end of June. In the second quarter alone, these portfolios attracted net inflows of R26bn.
Multi-asset portfolios offer investors single diversified portfolios aimed at absorbing the highs and the lows of the markets.
Investors have a choice of seven types of multi-asset portfolios: flexible, high equity, SA high equity, medium equity, low equity, income, and unclassified.
SA multi-asset income portfolios attracted R37.1bnn in net inflows over the 12 months, while SA multi-asset high-equity portfolios claimed R24.6bn. Portfolios in these two categories, therefore, attracted the bulk of the R77bn in net inflows into SA multi-asset portfolios.
Mulder said the split between SA multi-asset income and SA multi-asset high-equity portfolios is a good snapshot of investor sentiment in 2025. “A whole lot of caution, but with a healthy appetite to participate in the stock market run.”
At the end of June, 50% of the CIS industry’s assets were invested in SA multi-asset portfolios. SA interest-bearing portfolios held 30% of assets, 19% of assets were in SA equity portfolios, and 1% in SA real estate portfolios.
Locally registered foreign portfolios crossed the R1-trillion AUM threshold for the first time in the second quarter of 2025, ending June with R1.04 trillion under management. These portfolios recorded net inflows of R1.82bn for the quarter to the end of June and R13.08bn for the year.
There are currently 763 foreign currency-denominated portfolios on sale in South Africa.
The South African hedge fund industry ended the second quarter with R181bn in AUM (excluding fund of funds). This represents a marginal drop of 2.3% in assets over the six months from the end of December 2024, when assets stood at R185bn.
Mulder said the hedge fund industry recorded net outflows of R17bn in the first six months of 2025.
The number of hedge funds declined to 216 at the end of June.
