Johannesburg — INVESTEC Asset Management was enjoying a year of record funds under management and inflows as investors recovered from the shock of the financial crisis and were investing with asset managers that had proved resilient throughout.

Investec Asset Management CEO Hendrik du Toit yesterday said net inflows for the six months to September 30 had reached about R27bn and the momentum had continued into the second half.

He said global investors were saving more, and were no longer prepared to hold cash in banks where they were generating no interest. They were also only placing their money with asset managers that had "conducted themselves well throughout the crisis", said Du Toit.

"It's the best operational spot we've been in for 19 years."

Of the net inflows in the first half, £1,7bn flowed from outside SA and £400m came from South African investors.

The asset manager's funds were also generating good returns, which made the products saleable. Not one of its funds has failed to beat its benchmark, while over the shorter term -- notably five years, three years and one year , the funds were among the leading performers.

The company operates about 150 investment products. Du Toit said the company was also attracting new institutional flows, partly due to the greater propensity of people to save. This had seen, for instance, record funds flowing into UK mutual funds.

Investec Asset Management also had a "big footprint across the developing world" and was in a favourable position to tap into new flows from these countries as well, such as from sovereign wealth funds. Investec Asset Management was also benefiting from "quite a lot of competition falling out of the game", while many had been found not to have performed satisfactorily through the crisis.

Du Toit said it had proven "quite a positive year if you were stable" and in retrospect the company could have been a little more aggressive when markets were weak. It could possibly have recruited new talent or taken other opportunities opening up.

He said the global money- managing industry, with its longer-term basic savings structures, had come through the crisis relatively well, compared with the banking industry.