Bond funds were the overall best-performing asset type in terms of flows during the first quarter of 2019 as European investors returned to the market.
Investors put in €34.8 billion euros into the asset type, with Blackrock coming out on top as the best-selling promoter with €12.3 billion of inflows.
Mutual funds in Europe, however, saw estimated net outflows of €58.3 billion due to a variety of factors, according to the analysis by Refinitiv.
Main factors included “discussions about a possible trade war between the US and China, a possible return of the euro crisis caused by developments in Italy and France, an environment of rising interest rates in the US, and a general economic slowdown with decreasing earnings at the company level”, said Detlef Glow at Refinitiv.
He highlighted that even though the general market was negative, some fund promoters still enjoyed significant inflows.
The overall best-selling fund promoter for Q1 was Pimco, with net sales of €8.3 billion, putting it far ahead of Credit Mutuel (€3.7 billion) and AllianceBernstein (€3.3 billion).
Overall assets under management (AuM) in the European fund industry rose from €9.9 trillion to €10.4 trillion.
The ETF industry also enjoyed growing popularity among investors. Net sales were set at €27.2 billion, while AuM increased to €752.2 billion from €633.1 billion at the end of last year.
©2019 funds europe
