Dutch asset managers serving the $318bn domestic pensions fund market still have a firm hold on the marketplace, despite the inroads made by foreign groups.

The 61 investment managers active in the market looked after $161bn of externally managed pension assets in 1997, according to a survey by Nuenen-based consultants Bureau Bosch. Though 55% of these managers were non-domestic, they have only captured 22% of the market, with Barclays Global Investors alone accounting for 10%. In fact, BGI is the second largest manager of Dutch assets, ranking after PVF, which will dominate the management landscape after its merg-er deal with Achmea, with $35bn in assets under management.

The top 10 managers control over 80% of the externally managed market and BGI is the only non-domestic player to feature in this listing. The next 10 places feature JP Morgan, with Dutch pension assets of $2.6bn, Fidelity with an estimated $1.8bn, Morgan Grenfell $1.6bn, State Street Global Advisors $1.2bn, Schroders $1.14bn and Capital International $1.1bn. Lombard Odier with $2.5bn pensions assets is regarded as a domestic player as it has a local research team.

The portion of the market outsourc-ed by pension funds has grown to 50%, from 43% in 1995, when the last survey was undertaken. In this period, assets managed rose by 38% from $94.5bn to $131bn, though market rises will have accounted for some of this.

Pension fund clients grew by 11% to 1,085 in this time period. Among those with the largest pension fund client bases were Robeco (250), ING (168), BGI (81), Fortis (66) and ABN AMRO(60). On the basis of the survey's figures, the post-merger PVF and Achmea client base would be in the order of 65.

Looking at managers' styles, the survey finds that nearly two thirds are growth-oriented with an active fundamental style, but that 40% use a formal asset allocation model. Fennell Betson

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