The strong results were driven by net inflows into bond funds (€96.4 billion), equity funds (€92.4 billion), and mixed-asset funds (€85.1 billion). 

Following the sales pattern for long-term funds, asset allocation was the most popular fund asset class for December with over €4 billion in inflows, followed by equities Europe (+€3.4 billion) and equities Japan (+€2 billion). 

In contrast, money market funds showed the highest net outflows amounting to €93.9 billion in losses. Also, bonds emerging markets in local currencies suffered net outflows of around €2.2 billion, bettered somewhat by bonds USD funds (-€1.5 billion) and bonds EUR funds (-€1.4 billion).

Similarly, commodity funds (-€1.3 billion), property products (-€0.6 billion), and alternative/hedge funds (-€0.3 billion) showed net outflows, while bond funds saw net inflows of €2.4 billion, while “other” products stayed nearly flat with €0.3 billion.

Looking specifically at single fund market flows for long-term funds, the sector showed a mixed picture as Italy (+€3.3 billion), the United Kingdom (+€3.1 billion), and Sweden (+€2.4 billion) generated positive flows in December. Meanwhile, Belgium, Switzerland and France all experienced outflows above €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 €2.2 billion in December, ahead of Nordea AB (+€1.3 billion) and Vanguard Group (+€1.2 billion).