GERMANY - Deutsche Asset Management has disputed the latest institutional fund statistics from industry association BVI, saying the figures grossly understate its ranking in the German market.

According to the latest BVI statistics, DeAM had €33bn in institutional assets under management on March 31, putting it in third place among managers of this type.

Ahead of DeAM were first-ranked Allianz Global Investors and second-ranked Deka with €69.2bn and €44.3bn, respectively.

However, DeAM said its ranking at the end of the first quarter was misleading, as BVI did not count institutional assets under management held by DeAM International and DWS, its retail fund arm. Included in these assets is a multi-billion euro mandate from the Swiss insurer Zurich.

As a result, DeAM said it had a total of €78bn in assets under management on March 30, €18.5bn of which was managed on behalf of third parties. It added that the €78bn figure would elevate it to second place in the German market behind AGI.

Defending its statistics, BVI said that on the basis of data supplied by each institutional asset manager, it tallied the assets that “could be attributed to the KAG”. KAG is German for investment company.

“There are other institutional assets outside of the KAG that can be counted, but this is not only true of DeAM, it is true of all German institutional fund providers,” the association said.

DeAM acknowledged that AGI’s total institutional assets in Germany were not reflected in the BVI statistics. This is why it still would be behind AGI if the total assets from both houses had been tallied, it said.

AGI could not be reached for further comment.

Separately, BVI said inflows to Spezialfonds, or German institutional funds, totalled €21.1bn during the first quarter, helping to lift total volume to €560bn.

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