Not a single fund registered for sale in South Africa has outperformed the US market over the past 10 years. This includes all local portfolios as well as global funds available to South African investors.

According to Morningstar data, the top-performing portfolio available to South Africans since the start of 2012 was the GinsGlobal US Equity Index fund. It has delivered a 10-year annualised return of 22.1% in rand terms.

This fund tracks the MSCI USA index, and its performance illustrates that tracking the US market has been a winning strategy for a significant period of time.

This strength in the US market has also translated into dominant performance by global equity funds in general. Of the 20 top-performing funds over the past decade available in South Africa, 17 invest in global equities. Of the remaining funds, two are US equity portfolios and one is an aggressive global multi-asset fund.

The highest return from an active fund over 10 years has been the 21.9% per annum generated by the R26bn Old Mutual Global Equity fund. That portfolio is managed by Citywire + rated Ian Heslop and Amadeo Alentorn at Jupiter Asset Management.

 
It has the notable record of only underperforming the median fund in its Morningstar category in one of the last 10 calendar years. That was in 2020, and even then it was up 19.2%.

The largest fund among the top 10 is the R31.4bn Ninety One Global Franchise feeder fund managed by Clyde Rossouw. It has returned 18.9% per annum over this period.

This portfolio has generated a positive double-digit return in nine of the past 10 years. The only blemish on that record was the -12.7% drop it experienced in 2016.