German fund industry hits €3trn
The German fund industry has grown by 77% over the last ten years and has now for the first time exceeded the €3trn mark, the German Investment Funds Association BVI reveals.
Total assets managed by the German fund industry are now at €3.001trn, of which €1.59trn in Spezialfonds aimed at institutional investors, another €1.022trn in open ended mutual funds and €379bn in open mandates (figure 1).
Figure: Assets managed by the German fund industry (in €bn)
Source: BVI, 2018
While inflows into Spezialfonds increased strongly between 2013 and 2015 , they declined gradually in 2016 and 2017, at the same time inflows in open-ended mutual funds saw a significant increase in 2017.
According to the BVI, the current low-interest environment represents a key driver for inflows into German investment funds, another driver is the growth of pension fund assets in Germany.
Mutli-asset funds continue to remain the most popular asset class for mutual funds in terms of net new inflows for the fifth year in a row, followed by fixed income and equity funds.
BVI data also revealed that more than 80% of mutual fund providers in Germany are German firms, followed by US firms (9%), British (4%), French (3%), and Swiss (1%) (figure 2).
Figure 2: Mutual fund providers in Germany by country of origin
Source: BVI, 2018
Amid growing cost pressures, the share of ETFs among German mutual fund assets is on the rise. Compared to the European average Germany has a significantly higher share of its overall assets invested in passive funds (figure 3)
Figure 3: % Share of ETFs in mutual fund assets
Source: BVI, 2018
