The European Commission has started an ambitious initiative with the commission action plan on financing sustainable growth. Even as this initiative was welcomed at the top level of the wider financial industry, there was some resistance with regard to the reporting duties for asset managers and mutual funds mentioned in the proposal. As a consequence…
DetailsThe European asset management industry had a rather rough start in 2019. In regard to this, it is not surprising there is a lot of discussion around current sales trends. From my perspective, these discussions may lead in the wrong direction since sales trends are often driven by the respective market environment and, therefore, are…
DetailsFollowing the news about product releases and trends in the European fund industry, one may get the impression sustainable investing is the new hot topic in the industry since there are funds with a sustainable investment objective launched every week. Some observers may already see an inflationary use of the terms environmental, social and governance…
DetailsThe negative trend with regard to fund flows in Europe continued in February even as the securities markets rebounded. As a consequence, February was the tenth month in a row long-term mutual funds posted net outflows after 16 consecutive months of net inflows. Given the current interest rate environment, it was surprising that bond funds…
DetailsThe promoters of ETFs in Europe enjoyed net inflows for February. These inflows led, in combination with a positive performance of the underlying markets, to increased assets under management in the European ETF industry. In more detail, the assets under management in the European ETF industry increased from €675.1 bn as of January 31, 2019,…
DetailsThe negative trend with regard to fund flows in Europe continued in January, even as the securities markets showed a rebound. As a consequence, January was the ninth month in a row long-term mutual funds posted net outflows after 16 consecutive months of net inflows. It was surprising that bond funds (+€12.7 bn) were the…
DetailsThe promoters of ETFs in Europe enjoyed net inflows for January. These inflows led, in combination with a positive performance of the underlying markets, to increased assets under management in the European ETF industry. In more detail, the assets under management in the European ETF industry increased from €633.1 bn as of December 31, 2018,…
DetailsThe year 2018 was a tough year for the European fund industry. Despite headwinds from the markets and outflows from their actively managed peers, the promoters of ETFs in Europe enjoyed net inflows in every single month of the year 2018. These inflows, however, were not able to offset the negative impact from the underlying…
DetailsThe European fund industry faced estimated net outflows of €129.2 bn in 2018 after six consecutive years with net inflows. The flows were mainly driven by the discussions about a possible trade war between the USA and China, as well as a possible return of the Euro crisis caused by developments in Italy and France,…
DetailsThe year 2018 was an outstanding year for exchange-traded funds even though it was a tough year for the European fund industry overall. The return of volatility caused by uncertainties coming from a possible trade war between the USA and China, the ongoing Brexit discussions, and a possible return of the euro crisis after the…
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