Investment fund assets worldwide stood at a new all-time high of EUR28.29tn at end 2014, reflecting growth of 3.9% during the fourth quarter and 18.9% since end 2013, according to a report by the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA).
In US dollar terms, worldwide investment fund assets totalled $34.35tn at end 2014.
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Worldwide net cash inflows increased in the fourth quarter to EUR335bn, up from EUR290bn in the third quarter, thanks to strong net inflows to worldwide money market funds.
Long-term funds (all funds excluding money market funds) recorded net inflows of EUR220bn during the fourth quarter, slightly down from the EUR223bn registered in the previous quarter.
Equity funds attracted net inflows of EUR44bn, up from EUR24bn in the third quarter. Bond funds posted reduced net inflows of EUR63bn, down from EUR79bn in the previous quarter.
Balanced funds also registered reduced net sales of EUR52bn, down from EUR72bn in the third quarter. Coincidently, long-term funds registered net inflows of EUR68bn in both the US and Europe during the fourth quarter.
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By GlobalDataMoney market funds registered net inflows of EUR115bn during the fourth quarter, compared to EUR67bn in the third quarter of 2014. This result is largely attributable to positive net sales recorded in the US of EUR98bn, whereas Europe registered net outflows during the quarter of EUR10bn.
Overall in 2014, worldwide investment funds attracted net sales of EUR1,169bn, up from EUR848bn in 2013. Worldwide long-term funds registered net inflows of EUR1,015bn in 2014, as all categories of funds registered net inflows during the year.
The US recorded net inflows into long-term funds of EUR302bn, with Europe registering net inflows of EUR471bn.
At the end of 2014, assets of equity funds represented 40% and bond funds represented 22% of all investment fund assets worldwide.
Of the remaining assets money market funds represented 13% and the asset share of balanced/mixed funds was 12%.
The market share of the ten largest countries/regions in the world market were the US (51.2%), Europe (28.2%), Australia (4.7%), Brazil (4.4%), Canada (3.7%), Japan (3.1%), China (2.1%), Rep. of Korea (1.0%), South Africa (0.5%) and India (0.4%).
