The German fund industry saw inflows to the tune of é167.9 billion by the end of September, effectively heading for a record year.
According to the German funds industry body, the BVI, 2015 was the best sales year, with fund companies registering é186.6 billion in inflows from the beginning of January to the end of December. At é85.9 billion year to date, open-ended retail funds have already surpassed their year-2000 record high.
During that year, these funds generated inflows totalling é74.6 billion from the beginning of January to the end of December. Year-to-date 2021, open-ended Spezialfonds (funds for institutional investors) attracted inflows of é79.9 billion and closed-ended funds raised é4.4 billion. Investors withdrew é2.3 billion from discretionary mandates. The new business of the fund industry equates to over 4 percent of the assets as at the beginning of the year ( é3,852 billion). As at the end of September, fund companies in Germany managed assets totalling é4,183 billion.
With inflows of é42.9 billion, equity funds have been acting as key sales drivers within the open-ended retail fund segment. Of this amount, actively managed funds and equity ETFs account for é25.2 billion and é17.7 billion respectively. In terms of investment focus, funds that invest globally dominate (é21.7 billion).
At the end of September, equity funds managed assets totalling é586 billion. This is 28 per cent more than at the beginning of the year (é459 billion). With inflows totalling é29.6 billion, balanced funds rank second on the sales chart. Of these inflows, é16.4 billion went to funds that invest equally in equities and bonds. Balanced funds with a focus on either equities or bonds collected é 6.6 billion each. In total, balanced funds managed assets to the tune of é 379 billion. Bond funds attracted é 6.7 billion in fresh capital. Half of all new business originated from funds with a focus on corporate bonds. As at mid-year, this fund group superseded bond funds primarily investing in Euro denominated bonds with a short residual maturity as the largest segment in terms of volume. As at the end of September, corporate bond funds accounted for assets totalling é46 billion. This is a fifth of the assets of all bond funds, which total é229 billion.
By the end of September, sustainable funds recorded inflows totalling é41.6 billion. This corresponds to a 25 percent share in the fund industry's total new business. In accordance with the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, which entered into force on 10 March 2021, only products classified by members as ‘Article 8 Funds’ (funds that have a sustainability strategy) or ‘Article 9 Funds’ (funds that support sustainability goals) are deemed to be sustainable. With a volume of é38.8 billion, sustainable retail funds dominate new business.
