There are nearly 31,500 mutual funds registered for sale in Europe, with equity funds accounting for more than a third of the total, says the latest research from Lipper, dated March 2011.
Luxembourg is the most popular domiciliary with about a quarter of all European funds, followed by France with 15%.
The research found that the number of new funds launched in the first quarter of 2011 was 500, down by nearly a third on the previous quarter. This seems to be in line with a trend – the total launches for 2010 was down on the average of the preceding four years.
Multi-asset funds were the second-biggest asset class accounting for nearly a quarter of all funds, while bond funds accounted for 17%.
The number of fund liquidations and mergers in the first quarter of 2011 was fairly stable compared with the corresponding quarter last year. However, the figures of 420 liquidations and 230 mergers are higher than the average over the past five years.
“It is interesting to note that the number of liquidations and mergers has seen an upward trend during the last five years, illustrating an ongoing consolidation that partly reflects the impact of the Ucits directive,” said the report.
©2011 funds europe
