Asset Management in South Africa 2020
The Lie of the Land
Regulation, Product, and Distribution
- Gain insight into shifts within the institutional market in South Africa
- Explore how ESG is gaining significance in both the retail and institutional markets
- Uncover the benefits that foreign managers have when it comes to country-specific risks
- Understand the outlook on fee pressure and consolidation of funds and managers
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Summary
Discover addressability in Africa’s second-largest economy, South Africa. This report analyzes equity, insurance, and credit markets as well as the country’s legal system and financial regulation. Use this research to assess the institutional and retail markets, determine which asset classes, products, and strategies are in demand and which are losing favor.
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A Note from the Author
South Africa Offers Promise

John Sherrocks
Senior Editor
Bio →

John Sherrocks
Senior Editor
John is responsible for editing The Cerulli Edge publications generated in the London office: The Cerulli Edge—Global Edition, Europe Edition, and European Monthly Product Trends Edition. In his role, he complies the diary of articles for the monthly and quarterly publications. He also commissions in-house analysts on the retail and institutional teams in the London office and freelancers to write the articles and create the exhibits.
Additionally, John writes the Global Edge special editorial for the London office and writes articles for other Cerulli Edges. For the past three years, he has written chapter one and the Key Questions Answered section of The Cerulli Report—Global Markets. John also initiated and led the research for Cerulli’s first country report on South Africa, which was published in 2020.
Prior to joining Cerulli five years ago, John was a business/finance journalist. He was worked for media operations based in the U.K., South Africa, and France.
Full biography here.
South Africa faces a series of economic, societal, and political difficulties but has well-regarded legal and financial systems, an expanding middle class, and a large pool of domestic investors. The insurance and retirement fund markets—the largest in Africa—offer the potential for addressability. While the country’s larger domestic asset managers can offer most major mandates in-house, they cannot do everything themselves, so strategic partnerships play a key role in the local market.
In addition, independent financial advisors are central to South Africa’s retail mutual fund market, accounting for 64.6% of total retail AUM in 2019, according to data from the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa. Multi-asset funds are extremely popular in South Africa, dominating the local market in 2019, with total sales of ZAR55.6 billion, markedly up on ZAR25.6 billion in 2018. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing is yet to fully take hold in South Africa but could accelerate with pressure from regulation and risk management.
User our report to fully understand the nuances of this market and to inform your expansion strategy.
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