Fund Management
Strong Year For European Funds β 2013 Review
The European funds industry has had a strong year as new numbers reveal that total inflows for 2013 reached β¬274.8 billion, according to the Lipper annual fund review.
The European funds industry has had a strong year as new numbers reveal that net inflows of β¬16.9 billion ($23.05 billion) in long-term mutual funds for December 2013, brought the year's total inflows to β¬274.8 billion, according to the Lipper annual fund review.
The strong results were driven by net inflows into bond funds (β¬96.4 billion), equity funds (β¬92.4 billion), and mixed-asset funds (β¬85.1 billion).
Following the sales pattern for long-term funds, asset allocation was the most popular fund asset class for December with over β¬4 billion in inflows, followed by equities Europe (+β¬3.4 billion) and equities Japan (+β¬2 billion).
In contrast, money market funds showed the highest net outflows amounting to β¬93.9 billion in losses. Also, bonds emerging markets in local currencies suffered net outflows of around β¬2.2 billion, bettered somewhat by bonds USD funds (-β¬1.5 billion) and bonds EUR funds (-β¬1.4 billion).
Similarly, commodity funds (-β¬1.3 billion), property products (-β¬0.6 billion), and alternative/hedge funds (-β¬0.3 billion) showed net outflows, while bond funds saw net inflows of β¬2.4 billion, while βotherβ products stayed nearly flat with β¬0.3 billion.
Looking specifically at single fund market flows for long-term funds, the sector showed a mixed picture as Italy (+β¬3.3 billion), the United Kingdom (+β¬3.1 billion), and Sweden (+β¬2.4 billion) generated positive flows in December. Meanwhile, Belgium, Switzerland and France all experienced outflows above β¬2 billion.
Finally, the review said that out of specific funds, BlackRock was the best selling group of long-term funds for net sales of β¬2.2 billion in December, ahead of Nordea AB (+β¬1.3 billion) and Vanguard Group (+β¬1.2 billion).
