European funds gained net inflows of €87.4 billion in the first three months of the year – the best first quarter for flows since 2007, according to data from Lipper.
Bond funds proved particularly popular with €57.9 billion in net inflows during the three months.
The product to attract the most new money in the quarter was AllianceBernstein’s American Income Portfolio fund, with €2 billion, followed by Pimco’s Global Investment Grade Credit fund (€1.8 billion) and M&G’s Optimal Income fund (€1.6 billion). A further four funds gained more than €1 billion in net inflows in the quarter.
A quarter of inflows into equity products went to exchange-traded funds during the quarter, underlining that these vehicles are an increasingly popular way to achieve stock market exposure.
However, equity funds in general only attracted €12.2 billion in net new money, significantly less than bond products. Exchange-traded funds accounted for 5% of overall inflows.
©2012 funds europe
