European mutual funds logged inflows of €109.6 billion ($144.8 billion) for the first half of 2013, compared to €83.2 billion over the same period in 2012, with the majority of new business sourced over the first quarter of 2013 (€109.3 billion), according to data from research firm Lipper.

However, by the end of the second quarter, inflows had fallen to just €300 million as a result of outflows in June. Lipper said that this was due to redemptions from fixed income vehicles (-€28 billion), following Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s suggestion that quantitative easing in the US might come to an end next year.

Lipper's mid-year review of the European fund industry also showed that equity funds experienced a revival at the start of 2013, with average monthly flows of €12.3 billion net over the first quarter.

However, this was short-lived as sales rapidly declined and slid back into negative territory in the second quarter with negative outflows of €7.8 billion.

"The boost in activity during the first quarter was reflected in the 158 new equity fund launches over the course of the second quarter. During the first half of 2013, new launch activity was dominated by bond funds, reflecting the demand of investors for new products within this sector, mainly driven by the chase for yield," Lipper said.

Lipper said that PIMCO was no longer Europe's best selling fund house and had fallen to fourth place in the league table with inflows of €11.3 billion in the first six months of the year.

In first place was BlackRock with inflows of €13.6 billion, followed by JP Morgan with inflows of €13.3 billion. The success of the Templeton Global Total Return Fund (€7.9 billion net) propelled the US group Franklin Templeton into third place with net inflows of €11.8 billion.