Asset managers in the vast majority of European countries recorded negative quarterly growth rates in assets under management in Ucits funds in the first quarter of the year, according to EFAMA data.
Funds saw net outflows of €6.5 billion overall and no major domicile recorded net positive quarterly growth.
Asset managers in the UK, Ireland, Luxembourg, Germany and France saw Ucits assets fall by 7.3%, 4.1%, 3.4%, 2.9% and 0.7%, respectively.
All Nordic states, with the exception of Norway, experienced a decrease in net Ucits assets, albeit at moderate rates. Norway recorded an increase of 1.3%.
Southern countries all recorded falls in net Ucits assets. Greek assets fell by 6%, Portuguese 4.5%, Spanish 2% and Italian 1.8%.
However, Central and Eastern European countries were generally notable exceptions to the pan-continental downward trend, with Hungary (11.2%), Croatia (3.1%), Czech Republic (1.6%), Romania (1.4%) and Bulgaria (0.7%) all recording net inflows. Slovenia, Slovakia and Poland were exceptions.
Bernard Delbecque, director of economics and research at EFAMA, attributed this decline to the stock market sell-off in the initial months of this year, and uncertainties about the future direction of interest rates.
“On a positive note, net outflows remained very limited, confirming Ucits investors are resilient to market volatility,” he added.
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