Fund Management
Investors Piled Into Equities, Mixed-Asset Funds In Europe Last Year - Lipper
Investors hit the exits from commodity and money market funds last year and pushed into equity, mixed-asset and bond funds during 2013, reversing the picture in 2012 when inflows into European portfolios were dominated by the fixed income category, according to Lipper.
Investors hit the exits from commodity and money market funds
last year and pushed into equity, mixed-asset and bond funds
during 2013, reversing the picture in 2012 when inflows into
European portfolios were dominated by the fixed income category,
according to Lipper,
the research firm.
Over the course of 2013, the European fund industry reported net
sales of €183.5 billion ($252.6 billion) into mutual funds. These
consisted of sales of €96 billion into bond funds, €92 billion
into equity funds and €85 billion into mixed-asset funds. The
highest outflows were seen in money market funds (-€93 billion)
and commodity funds (-€8 billion).
“This year stands in considerable contrast to 2012 which saw the
complete domination of sales into bond funds. Whilst there is no
substantial evidence that the bond bubble is bursting, 2013 has
been characterised by a considerable uptake in investor risk
appetite which has been reflected by more robust flows into
equity funds,” Lipper, which is part of the Thomson Reuters news
service group, said.
Equity sales rose in all major countries (with the notable
exception of Germany with outflows of -€6 billion), the report
said.
There was sharp growth into mixed asset funds (€85 billion);
these proved particularly popular in Italy (€18 billion) the UK
(€12 billion) and Germany (€10 billion). The bulk of these mixed
flows have come in via the cross border funds (€37 billion)
showing that the trend may be geographically wider than mere
regional sales suggest.
As far as individual firms are concerned, US-listed BlackRock
kept its number 1 ranking last year with €32 billion of European
sales; as this figure includes a substantial book of passive
business, JP Morgan should be considered the top active house
with flows of €21 billion, Lipper said.
