Registrations of financial products in the December quarter of 2023 finished up 7.2 per cent compared to the five-year rolling average for the same period, at 199 product registrations, according to APIR chief executive, Chris Donohoe.  

APIR identifies, codes and manages reference data for unlisted financial products. In its 30 years of operation, it has identified over 30,000 individual financial products.  

Key highlights from the December quarter were:

• Registrations of managed investment products were up almost 11 per cent on the quarterly average over the past five years, at 183
• Managed accounts product registrations were slightly down on the rolling five-year average for the period, at 10
• Registration of superannuation products were in line with the rolling five-year average for the period, at 6
• Terminations for the December 2023 quarter were up 28 per cent on the rolling five-year average for the period at 79, but still remain significantly down year to date from last year.

“Whilst year to date we have seen lower levels of registrations in some product categories, it is apparent that product manufacturers are still looking to the traditional managed fund as their preferred collective investment vehicle to take to market,” Mr Donohoe says.

Mr Donohoe notes that after extremely strong levels of registrations the previous year, managed account product registrations appear to be normalising compared to what we have seen in prior years.

“Additionally, we saw significant number - 62 per cent - of managed fund registrations that were categorised as alternative assets, with property and mortgages being the dominant investment asset in the alternative class.  This ties in with 66 per cent of the managed fund registrations identifying as having a domestic geographical focus.

“With evidence of inflation having peaked, product manufacturers will need to weigh up the likelihood of central banks reducing interest rates against the impact of ever increasing global instability,” Mr Donohoe says.