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European Funds Surviving After Suffering Rocky October - Lipper Report
Anna Hallissey
15 December 2014
The European funds industry managed to keep its head afloat during a difficult October, with net outflows of -€9.3 billion from equity funds, according to statistics from Lipper. The Lipper Fund Flash for October also reported net inflows of a mere €0.4 billion into long-term mutual funds, marking a slowdown after strong inflows seen during the first eight months of the year. The most favoured investment type for European investors was mixed-assets products with inflows of €7.7 billion, with bond funds slightly behind with €4.4 billion. North American equities were the best-selling variety of long-term funds in October at €4.4 billion, with asset allocation products and euro bond funds just behind . Alternatively, European equities saw the biggest net outflows of -€4.1 billion. On a regional basis, Germany had the highest net inflows into funds with €2.4 billion. On the opposite end of the spectrum, international fund hubs Luxembourg and Ireland measured outflows of -€5.8 billion. While long-term products didn’t fare so well, money market products recorded large inflows during October. According to Lipper, these funds had €27.4 billion of inflows, with advanced money market funds logging net inflows of €1.1 billion. The best-selling asset class overall in October were mixed-asset products, with net inflows estimated at €7.7 billion. Looking forward to November’s figures, Lipper predicts that Luxembourg- and Ireland-domiciled funds will be the best-selling products, with estimated inflows of approximately €17.6 billion. “Even though these numbers are estimates, it seems European investors are back in a risk-on mode and are buying equity funds, while bond funds continue to be the best-selling asset type in Europe,” said the report’s author, Detlef Glow, head of EMEA research at Lipper.