South African Investment Climbs

February 10 - Whoever thought that the CIS (collective investment scheme) industry would crash in South Africa following one of the toughest global recessions since the Great Depression, could not have been further from the truth.

The Chief Executive Officer for ASISA (Association for Savings and Investment South Africa), Leon Campher, said that South Africans have continued to invest in their future by putting their money in the hands of local financial service providers.

By the end of 2008, assets under management peaked at an incredible R661 billion, according to Campher, showing that South Africans were showing their vote of confidence for home-based companies, while larger international companies had been forced to turn to their local governments for bail out packages.

Only a decade ago, there were just over 200 investment funds to choose from, yet at the end of 2008, Campher said that there were 884 funds in the industry.

Net inflows for 2008 were R60 billion, certainly not a bad figure considering that it is only R9 million lower than what was reported in 2007 and taking into account the conditions in the world economy.

Nevertheless, Campher pointed out that South Africans are taking much less risks than before, with only 22% of the assets invested in the equity market. More than half of the assets handled by the CIS were invested in fixed interest funds.

"We have not seen any evidence of undue stress in any of our financial services sectors, and none of our companies have required bail out packages," said Campher. "This is something that we as a country can be proud of."