New findings from the 26th edition of Monterey Insight’s Guernsey Fund Report reveal the market shares of all service providers in Guernsey’s fund sector.
Fund assets serviced in Guernsey increased to $428.4bn at the end of June 2020, up 4% compared with 2019.
The number of serviced schemes stood at 1,135 and the total number of sub-funds reached 1,372 – an increase on last year (1,065 and 1,289 respectively in 2019).
The influx of new business has seen the launch of around 100 Guernsey-domiciled groups during the year, accounting for $16.4bn of assets.
Overall, all Guernsey-domiciled funds and new sub-funds launched during the year demonstrate again that private equity vehicles remain the principal driver of the island's fund industry, with assets accounting for $13.7bn.
For domiciled and non-domiciled funds, private equity funds account for $305.8bn, followed in second position by alternative investment funds with $40.6bn.
Company rankings
Among fund managers, the ranking remains the same as last year. The largest promoter/initiator of serviced funds is Apax Partners with $38.4bn. Cinven maintains its second position with $26.6bn, followed by Permira with $26.1bn.
Turning to other service providers, Northern Trust maintains its lead position for all three rankings of fund administration, custody and transfer agent.
Across domiciled and non-domiciled funds, as has been the case for several years, Northern Trust remains the largest administrator by total net assets of $67.9bn.
Aztec Group maintains its second position with $62.9bn of assets, but with an increase of $12.2bn in assets compared with last year.
It is followed by Apex Fund Services, ranking third with $54.1bn. Apex also made a surprise entry in top position as the largest administrator by number of sub-funds (194).
Among custodians, Northern Trust maintains its lead with $33.2bn, followed by BNP Paribas Securities Services. As last year, BNP holds its second position in the custody table of serviced funds with $8.9bn, ahead of Butterfield Bank in third with $7bn.
For the top positions among transfer agents, Northern Trust keeps its lead position with $60.5bn.
Aztec Group had a productive year, rising to second place with a total of $55bn, just ahead of Apex Fund Services with $54.1bn.
Auditor ranking
The ranking for auditors was unchanged this year for the top two, as has been the case for a number of years. PwC maintains its lead position, auditing 416 funds and sub-funds, ahead of KPMG with 283 funds and sub-funds. Deloitte has taken third position this year with 134 funds.
For the first time, PwC takes the lead in the ranking by assets, with $130.2bn, followed by KPMG with $127.5bn and Deloitte in third with $71.3bn.
Legal advisers
Among legal advisers, Carey Olsen remains the largest both by number of funds advised (869) and by assets ($313.9bn). In the table ranking of funds, the firm is followed in second place by Mourant, with 157 funds, and Ogier in third with 83.
Karine Pacary (pictured), Managing Director of Monterey Insight, commented: “Guernsey continued to deliver strong returns despite the uncertainty at the beginning of the year around Covid-19. In this difficult and volatile time, Guernsey managed to strengthen last year’s good results and attract new business.
"This year’s result demonstrates again that the Guernsey fund industry is a centre of excellence for private equity and alternative funds supported by the trust and professionalism of its service providers and the quality of its regulatory body.”