New capital invested in retail funds in Germany last year fell 90% compared with 2015, according to figures released by the German Investment Funds Association (BVI).
The data, published in BVI’s annual report for 2016, shows that just €6.5 billion euros of new capital was invested into retail funds last year, compared with €72 billion in 2015.
Meanwhile the amount poured into ‘Spezialfonds’ by large institutional investors dropped by around a fifth from €120.7 billion to €96.3 billion.
BVI president Tobias Pross admitted, during the association’s annual press conference, that new business in 2016 was “modest” compared with 2015 (the second best year for the industry since 2000), but added that overall “the German fund industry is still doing well”, pointing to the fact that assets managed by German fund companies reached a record high of €2.8 trillion in 2016.
With combined recorded inflows of €102.8 billion into retail funds and ‘Spezialfonds’ the BVI also points to the fact that 2016 saw the third-highest sales in any single year since the financial crisis.
Pross said that, against a backdrop of volatile markets and political surprises in 2016 “the results achieved by the industry are truly impressive”.
“2016 clearly demonstrates that investors continue to rely on professional asset management by fund companies, even during difficult market phases and within a low interest rate environment,” Pross said.
©2017 funds europe
