THE success of the Dublin's Financial Services Centre has been under scored by a report that assets in Dublin funds have soared by 65 per cent over the past year. They now total $33.1 billion (£21 billion).
The latest edition of Fitzrovia's Dublin Fund Encyclopedia says total fund numbers jumped by 18 per cent to 723, from 612 last year, and the average fund size increased by 40 per cent.
"This growth pattern represents a phenomenal success story for Dublin and an obvious opportunity for local service providers to capitalise on the likely continuation of such growth in future years," according to the encyclopaedia.
The comprehensive report says domestic Irish banks have gained market share over foreign rivals, with Bank of Ireland displacing Chase Manhattan as the largest custodian. Bank of Ireland now holds $7.2 billion in assets as custodian - an increase of 67 per cent on last year - and the bank comes second only to Deutsche Morgan Grenfell in the amount of assets it administrates. Assets held as custodian are typically managed by another company.
Deutsche Morgan Grenfell is now by far the largest administrator in terms of market share by assets - in the past year the firm almost doubled its total. However, the report points out that more than 80 per cent of Deutsche Morgan Grenfell's assets under administration relates to in house business, while some 90 per cent of Bank of Ireland's assets are third party.
Morgan Grenfell Custodial Services has also nearly doubled the amount of assets it holds as custodian, to $6.3 billion from $3.2 billion last year. Chase Manhattan increased its custodian business only slightly, to $5.2 billion from $4.7 billion.
AIB is now custodian of assets worth $4.4 billion, more than doubling its total in 1995 of $1.9 billion. In the same area, Ulster Bank jumped to $1.9 billion from $0.9 billion.
The average fund size increased by 40 per cent to $45.8 billion to $32.7 billion. The 20 target funds account for $9.3 billion of Dublin fund assets, an average size of $465 million, and around 28 per cent of the total market.
The largest fund is the Morgan Grenfell Fixed Income Sterling Bond, at $958.3 million. The remaining 703 funds have an average size of $34 million, according to the encyclopaedia.
The report says that UCITS funds, which can be freely traded throughout the European Union, are by far the most important fund type - they account for 58 per cent of all assets and 48 per cent of all fund numbers. Unit trusts and investment companies each account for around 25 par cent of the market.
KPMG is now the largest auditor, displacing Coopers & Lybrand. Assets within funds audited by KPMG increased by 118 per cent, to $13.3 billion from $6.1 billion. But the encyclopedia points out that Coopers has performed better in winning new fund business, and now audits the largest number of funds.
Among Dublin law firms, two newcomers have performed best - William Fry now provides legal advice to 83 funds, while Matheson Ormsby Prentice advises 40 funds. The leading law firm remains A.& L. Goodbody, with 199 funds, with Dillon Eustace in second place, advising some 171 funds.
In total, 67 per cent of Dublin domiciled funds are listed on the Irish Stock Exchange, the reports says. However, while the market shares of the three big stockbrokers remained virtually unchanged, their total fund assets rose markedly. NCB has reached $13.7 billion, Davy is at $5.6 billion and Goodbody has touched $3.7 billion.
According to the encyclopedia, 48 per cent of all assets within Dublin funds originate from British based sponsors, 19 per cent come from the US and 14 per cent from Germany. Assets originating from Korea and Ireland each represent about 3.5 per cent of the market.
