Expert RA: Sber Asset Management is still the biggest asset management company in 1H21

According to early estimates by Expert RA rating agency, Sber Asset Management companies ranked first by the size of assets under management among all asset management companies in Russia in 2Q21. During the second quarter of 2021, the size of managed assets jumped by 5.4%[1] to reach RUB 1.43 tn.

Retail clients are still the main driver behind the company's growth. The bulk of this growth is due to the assets of wealthy and ultra-high-net-worth individuals who were offered a premium service model and some offerings to back this model, like new discretionary investment management strategies called Second Hedge Fund and High-Yielding Bonds (USD). In the second quarter, the company attracted 40,000 new investors, which increased Sber Asset Management's client pool by 8%.

The total size of the market for discretionary investment management and collective investments saw a rise of 4.8% reaching RUB 10 tn in 2Q21. The said market grew due to retail investors who are still very interested in discretionary investment management and due to asset management companies that pursued an active strategy when attracting funding in products designed for high-net-worth clients. Rising stock markets and the positive revaluation of assets under management contributed to this growth too.

The second quarter saw higher demand for HNW individual discretionary management strategies. This was also coupled with higher demand for ETFs, which saw nearly a 50% increase in investments quarter-on-quarter. In general, the number of clients increased in all segments, but it would be premature to say that the per cent of investment instruments in portfolios of individual investors has reached its peak. This is why we expect the market for discretionary investment management to grow further, mainly due to new retail investors and current ones building up their investments.

Evgeny Zaitsev

CEO, Sber Asset Management

Sber Asset Management is a leader in the retail market for discretionary asset management, holding the top line on the Moscow Exchange ranking as to the number of personal investment accounts (PIAs) with 213.4 thousand PIAs (up 66,000 in 2020), which is 60% of all PIAs in all asset management companies of Russia (358,4 thousand). According to Investfunds, Sber Asset Management has the largest share of mutual investment funds (exchange-traded and open-end) with 26.3%, while in the segment of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the company's share is 52%.

In 2020, the company delivered the highest yield among 16 companies managing the assets of the Russian Pension Fund.

[1]Early figures for discretionary investment management market in the second quarter of 2021 (raexpert.ru).