Germany’s investment funds industry saw sales of €13.7 billion in February – slightly down on the “strong start” to the year that the country’s main trade association, the BVI, reported for January.
The latest figures, which were led by balanced and bond fund sales, showed that €4.2 billion of net new money came from retail customers investing in open-ended funds and €9.4 billion was sourced from institutions investing in Germany’s ‘Spezialfonds’ vehicles.
The retail figure of €4.2 billion worth of sales in February compares to €4.7 billion of sales the month before.
Total retail assets under management (AUM) were starting to chase the €1 trillion mark after crossing the €900 billion AUM threshold. AUM rose to €941 billion from €854 billion 12 months earlier.
Although balanced and bond funds topped the sales ranking, AUM in equity funds – standing at €353 billion – meant this category remained the largest fund group with a 38% retail market share.
The BVI said the last time the share was higher was during the years 1999 to 2002, when it rose to 55%.
Balanced funds have been the second largest group in the German retail markets since February 2015, currently accounting for €239 billion of AUM.
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