People and institutions globally put less money in investment funds last year than in 2014.
Figures from Morningstar show that $949 billion (€845 billion) went into investment funds, including exchange-traded funds, last year – a one-third drop compared to $1.4 trillion in 2014.
The US fund industry attracted the largest flows but still saw a fall in investment from $580 billion in 2014 to $263 billion, while Asia showed the strongest organic growth rate, 18.6 %.
Equity funds led category groups globally in terms of annual inflows, although 2015’s intake of $305 billion was smaller than the $476 billion seen in 2014. “Allocation funds” gathered $171 billion, outpacing inflows of $132 billion for fixed-income funds, and became the global category group with the second-largest inflows.
Alternative funds enjoyed a second year of double-digit organic growth.
Vanguard maintained its position as “undisputed leader of the fund industry’, sustained and propelled by the growing popularity of index strategies.
The majority of the firm’s $251 billion inflow went to its passive funds, but its active funds also gathered inflows of $15 billion.
In the US, active funds suffered outflows in 2015 and passive funds attracted inflows of approximately $400 billion.
The Morningstar ‘Global Asset Flows Report’ is based on assets reported by more than 3,800 fund groups across 82 domiciles.
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