Managed Investment Products dominate new registrations

Managed Investment Products (MIPs) continue to dominate new registrations in Australia, according to financial product registration repository, APIR Systems.

At the same time as financial advisers have lamented that Managed Investment Schemes have not had to contribute to the funding of the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort, APIR said MIPs had made up 85.3% of total 2023/24 registrations with that number 28.6% above the rolling five-year average.

At the same time, APIR reported what it described as a noticeable slowdown in the rationalisation of superannuation investment options.

Commenting on data, APIR chief executive, Chris Donohoe said that while overall product registration had been steady from the prior financial year, they ended 2023/24 15.7% above the rolling five-year average level.

“We have seen consistently higher levels of managed investment products registered for several years now, with 737 new registrations in 2023-24,” Donohoe said.

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

Key highlights from APIR’s 2023-24 data include:

• Managed investment products (MIPs) continue to be the industry’s dominant product choice making up 85.3% of total 2023-24 registrations.
• MIP registrations in 2023-24 finished 28.6% above the rolling 5-year average.
• Managed accounts (SMA model) registrations were again strong being 28.2% above the rolling 5-year average.

• There was a noticeable slowdown in the rationalisation of superannuation investment options during 2023-24.
• There were 39 new participant (i.e. product issuers such as Responsible Entities and Trustees) registrations in 2023-24, driving a net increase of 7.7% on the prior year.

The APIR analysis noted that after several years of rationalisation of superannuation investment options, product termination numbers for 2023-24 were significantly down on both the prior year, (66.5%) and the rolling 5-year average (29.4%).

“This reflects the superannuation industry’s relative stability after several years of mergers and acquisitions within retail super,” Donohoe said

Looking ahead to 2024-25, Donohoe said he expects continued innovation as product issuers try to differentiate themselves from peers, noting that Corporate Collective Investment Vehicles (CCIVs) are likely to be adopted over the coming 12-18 months.