European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) report shows that European fund asset levels recovered in 2010.
Major industry body EFAMA has revealed that the investment fund industry bounced back to the asset levels reached just before the onset of the global financial crisis. The group says “this growth is remarkable in that it coincided with the euro area experiencing an exceptional crisis.”
According to the group’s Quarterly Statistical Release, investment fund assets in Europe increased by 13.7% in 2010, from EUR7.061 billion at end 2009 to EUR8.025 billion at end 2010.
There was also a sustained demand for both UCITS and non-UCITS funds as UCITS registered net inflows of EUR166 billion in 2010, compared to EUR150 billion in 2009. According to EFAMA, this result was achieved despite outflows of EUR126 billion from money market funds. Special funds reserved to institutional investors gathered a record EUR149 billion in 2010, and real estate funds another EUR5 billion. Overall, total net sales of UCITS and non-UCITS reached EUR335 billion in 2010, compared to EUR190 billion in 2009.
EFAMA statistics also revealed that there was a strong shift towards long-term UCITS, as total net sales of long-term UCITS (UCITS excluding money market funds) reached EUR292 billion in 2010, compared to about EUR195 billion in 2009.
Interestingly, there were a number of key developments in 2010 that EFAMA pointed out.
Notably, the group says that there was a buoyant cross-border fund business over the course of the year as UCITS domiciled in Luxembourg and Ireland recorded total net sales of EUR215 billion in 2010, giving Luxembourg and Irelands market share in the UCITS industry an increase to 44.1%.