South Africa’s preferred asset and wealth managers revealed

The 2025 South African Investor and Banking Report revealed that Allan Gray is the preferred large asset manager, while Brenthurst topped the boutique wealth manager rankings.

The 2025 South African Investor and Banking Report is based on survey responses from South African retail and institutional investors.

The survey was conducted in April 2025 and received responses from 2,104 South African investors.

Many respondents were high-income earners and high-net-worth individuals, and 20% were institutional investors or worked for asset managers.

As part of the survey, respondents were asked which large asset manager they would choose if they had to invest their money with a fund manager today.

Allan Gray received the most votes, showing that it had the strongest brand among South African investors.

Ninety One ranked second, followed by Sanlam, Coronation, Old Mutual, Momentum, and Alexforbes.

Large firms like Allan Gray, Ninety One, Sanlam, and Coronation have aggressive marketing strategies to make them trusted household names among South Africans.

This is crucial for building confidence in their brand and ensuring investors feel secure with their investments.

With investment safety becoming increasingly important, large firms with effective marketing strategies have a significant advantage over lesser-known brands.

On the other end of the scale, M&G Investments, Futuregrowth, Foord, Ashburton, and Sygnia have the worst brand awareness.

This is typically a sign of ineffective marketing strategies rather than the quality of the fund or the service it provides to users.

The chart below shows the large fund managers South African investors would choose if they had to invest money today.

Top boutique wealth and fund managers

Brenthurst was the top boutique wealth manager. Its performance was bolstered by an effective marketing strategy and the high profile of its co-founder, Magnus Heystek.

The company and Heystek have a strong media and social media presence, with a good blend of sponsored content and organic media coverage.

10X Investments finished second, followed by Efficient Wealth, Rand Swiss, 36One, and Merchant West Investments.

Efficient Wealth has shown strong growth in recent years, which can be attributed to its chief economist, Dawie Roodt’s strong media presence.

Roodt is a trusted source of financial information, which lifts Efficient Wealth’s brand awareness.

Although smaller wealth managers may not have the same marketing budgets as larger firms, they have been effective in using cost-effective online channels to enhance their profiles.

The chart below shows the boutique wealth managers and funds South African investors would choose if they had to invest money today.