European multi-asset and equity funds increased their net inflows in December while bond funds remained in negative territory, the latest Efama Investment Funds Industry Fact Sheet has revealed.
Multi-asset funds finished the month with net sales of €13bn, compared to €10bn in November.
Net sales of equity funds increased from €17bn in November to €19bn in December.
Net sales of bond funds remained in negative territory, with net outflows of €7 bn in December.
Money market funds also registered net outflows of €12bn, which can largely be attributed to cyclical end-year withdrawals, Efama said.
Total net assets of Ucits decreased 2.3% from €8,430bn in November to €8,234bn in December, whereas AIF net assets decreased 1.4% to €4,403bn.
Total assets of Ucits and AIF ended December at €12,637bn, 2% lower than at end November (€12,897bn).
Overall, net sales of European investment funds rose to an all-time high of €717bn in 2015 and assets under management broke through the €12trn mark thanks to a growth rate of 12%.
Results for the whole of 2015 confirmed the trend in favour of equity and multi-asset funds, which respectively posted €133bn, against €55bn in 2014 and €236bn, against €186bn in 2014.
Bernard Delbecque, Senior Director for Economics and Research commented: “Demand for equity funds remained strong in December, indicating that investors were still confident in the upward potential of the equity markets late last year.”
“2015 was another breaking year, driven by investor confidence which has proven to be resilient despite periods of higher volatility, with record net inflow of sales of equity and multi-assets funds and a decline in the demand for bond funds.”
