Retirement fund assets up 13% in past decade

"This does stand out among emerging markets and SA is very fortunate to have seen this type of growth," said Anne Cabot-Alletzhauser, head of research and development at Alexander Forbes Financial Services.

Old Mutual Investment Group (Omigsa) was the largest asset manager over the last ten years, while 75% of assets are managed by the top ten managers.

However, as funds become bigger, so do capacity constraints, the survey shows.

Allan Gray was tenth biggest in 2000 and has moved to number five now, yet Allan Gray and Coronation recently hit peak capacity for certain institutional business.

While the recent Metropolitan and RMB merger signifies a new trend for the industry, coming social security reform could also reduce the number of institutional managers, according to Cabot-Alletzhauser. The survey rated 320 funds with a fund size over R200 million.

Allan Gray was best in absolute terms in 2011 due to its gold exposure, asset allocation, high cash exposure and high offshore exposure.

Over three years Foord and then Investec were tops for balanced mandates.

"Foord's stock selection was excellent after they went into retailers soon after the crisis and stuck with that," said Kim Strydom, head of performance surveys at Alexander Forbes Financial Services.

Prescient, Investec and Omigsa did best among institutional managers in the equity space, while Futuregrowth was best in the bond space.

The survey has undergone significant changes in the past year, with mandate relevant information offering more insights for users.

The researchers emphasized that it is not good to simply look at the rankings, but to investigate all qualitative aspects. The survey rated the managers gross of fees.