GERMANY - Deutsche Bank's DWS/DeAM took in three times more assets in Germany than Allianz Global Investors (AGI) during the first half of this year, according to statistics.

Data presented by German fund industry association BVI reveals total inflows, excluding open-ended property funds, to DWS/DeAM in the first half were €16.6bn - three times the €5.4bn figure for AGI.

In terms of portfolio management, excluding assets administrated, the distance between DWS/DeAM and AGI is even starker, as former saw inflows of €17.4bn in assets and AGI a mere €763.5m.

Portfolio management is more attractive than administration of assets to fund management houses in Germany as, generally speaking, fees for portfolio management of institutional assets are between 20-40 basis points for plain vanilla asset classes while those for administration are in single digits.

Staying with portfolio management inflows, the BVI statistics also showed DekaBank, the asset manager for German savings banks (Sparkassen), was in the number two slot with €8.5bn, while Union Investment, the asset manager for German co-operative banks, was number three with €7.1bn.

The foreign house with the biggest inflows to portfolio management was France's AXA IM with €3.9bn in funds, followed by Cominvest of Commerzbank with €2.4bn.

Asset management experts in Frankfurt said AGI's underperformance in relation to DWS/DeAM and other managers was driven in part by one of its flagship bond funds, the Allianz-dit eurobond total return fund managed by bond specialist Pimco, which posted outflows of €1.25bn in the first half.

A spokesman for AGI in Frankfurt acknowledged outflows from the manager's bond funds were to blame for the underperformance. "It's not that surprising if you consider the overall market for bonds right now," he said.

"Overall, we're satisfied with the inflows for the first half, which if you include administration, were above €5bn. We also generated €1bn in new money during the first half via our ‘Zertifikat funds'," he added. German Zertifikate are a fast-growing market as they operate not as funds but as passive investments often linked to key equity and bond indices.

Despite its underperformance, AGI in Germany still held on to its position as Germany's leading asset manager as measured by total assets under management (AuM). According to BVI figures, AGI's AuM was €276.bn, above the €251.7bn figure for DWS/DeAM. These figures again do not include assets held by open-ended property funds.