Bernard Delbeque, senior director for economics and research, EFAMA

Long term UCITS funds - those excluding money market funds – had their first monthly sell-off since March 2020, in a sign of the impact of inflation fears and the war in Ukraine

While UCITS funds in general and AIFs experienced net sales in recent months, long-term UCITS had avoided this up until now, seeing net inflows in February and previous months.

This data comes from the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA), which has published its latest monthly investment fund industry fact sheet, providing net sales data on UCITS and AIFs for March 2022, at European level and by country of fund domiciliation.

Both UCITS and AIFs showed net outflows in March. For UCITS, the pace of outflows slowed from February, falling from €43 billion to €35 billion.

UCITS domiciled in Luxembourg and France saw the largest outflows, with €23.7 billion and €10.7 billion respectively. Conversely, the UK saw a net inflow of €251 million.

From an asset class perspective, equity, bond and money market funds experienced net sales, while multi-asset and ‘other’ funds reported net inflows.

Long-term UCITS, which had avoided outflows in the first two months of the year, recorded net sales for the first time since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020.

Sales totaled €20 billion compared to net investment of €2 billion in February.

The sales rate of AIFs increased, rising from €5 billion to €7 billion.

Bernard Delbeque, senior director for economics and research at EFAMA, commented: “For the first time since March 2020, net sales of long-term UCITS turned negative as investor sentiment was impacted by the war in Ukraine and rising inflationary pressures.”

Despite the outflows, total net assets of UCITS and AIFs increased by 0.5 percent in March to €20,982 billion.