The European fund industry enjoyed general inflows over the course of July 2024. These inflows occurred in a positive market environment. Nevertheless, equity markets looked somewhat vulnerable given the high valuations of the market leaders. With regard to this, it is not surprising that investors are nervous and reacting quite fast on any news that may impact the current market environment negatively. This is not only true for economic news, as the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, especially the developments around the Red Sea, are seen as a risk for the general economic growth in Western countries since a

On August 1, 2024, BNP Paribas and AXA announced that they entered into exclusive negotiations for the acquisition of AXA Investment Management (AXA IM) and a long-term partnership in asset management. Under the terms of the proposed transaction, AXA will receive overall cash proceeds of €5.4 billion. In addition, AXA and BNP Paribas would also enter into a long-term strategic partnership under which BNP Paribas would provide investment management services to AXA. The signing of the proposed transaction is expected by the end of the year, while the closing of the transaction is expected for mid-2025 after regulatory approval is

The European fund industry enjoyed healthy inflows over the first half of 2024. Opposite to mutual funds, ETFs had estimated net inflows in every month so far. These inflows into mutual funds and ETFs occurred in a generally positive market environment. Nevertheless, equity markets looked somewhat vulnerable given the high valuations of the market leaders. With regard to this, it is not surprising that investors are nervous and reacting quite fast on any news that may impact the current market environment negatively. This is not only true for economic news, as the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, especially the

On May 15, 2024, LSEG Lipper unveiled the results of the LSEG Lipper Fund Awards for Islamic funds globally. Like previous years, the awards ceremony was not held as a physical in-person event. Since the last six years were a very challenging period for fund managers globally, the LSEG Lipper Fund Awards will get a lot of attention from the asset management industry since only those managers who were able to adapt their portfolios permanently to new market environments will receive one of the prestigious LSEG Lipper Fund Awards in 2024.   Different methodologies lead to different results Contrary to

The European fund industry enjoyed inflows over the course of March 2024. These inflows occurred in a further unstable market environment since the geopolitical tensions in Middle East, especially the Red Sea, increased over the course of the month. Nevertheless, since a number of shipping companies these days avoid the passage of the Suez channel, it is to be expected that the prolonged delivery times will cause some tensions for the still vulnerable delivery chains. Market sentiment was further driven by hopes that central banks—especially the U.S. Federal Reserve—have reached the last phase of their fight against high and further

Within the current market environment, the European fund industry enjoyed estimated net inflows for August. These inflows occurred in an unstable market environment in which some asset classes showed positive results, while others performed negatively over the course of the month. The market sentiment was still driven by hopes that central banks, especially the U.S. Federal Reserve, may have reached the last phase of their fight against high inflation rates and may, therefore, start to keep interest rates at least stable quite soon. Some investors already expect that there might be room for decreasing interest rates later this year or

It was not surprising to witness that the European fund industry enjoyed inflows over the course of the first half of 2023. Nevertheless, these inflows occurred in an unstable market environment in which some asset classes showed positive results, while others performed negatively. The market sentiment was still driven by hopes that central banks, especially the U.S. Federal Reserve, may have reached the last phase of their fight against high inflation rates and may, therefore, start to keep interest rates at least stable quite soon. Some investors already expect that there might be room for decreasing interest rates later this

The European ETF industry enjoyed inflows over the course of May 2023. These inflows occurred in a further unstable market environment in which some asset classes showed positive results, while others performed negatively over the course of the month. The market sentiment was still driven by hopes that central banks, especially the U.S. Federal Reserve, may have reached the last phase of their fight against the high and further increasing inflation rates and may, therefore, start to keep interest rates at least stable quite soon. Some investors already expect that there might be room for decreasing interest rates later this

It was not surprising that April 2023 was in general a positive month for the European fund industry given the rather positive revisions of the economic outlooks for the major economies globally and a possible end of the interest hiking cycle of central banks in the near future. That said, mutual fund promoters (+€5.0 bn) and ETFs promoters (+€11.0 bn) enjoyed inflows over the course of the month. The inflows into actively managed funds were driven by inflows into money market products (+€10.0 bn). Within the current market environment, it is not surprising that European investors bought money market products,

Assets Under Management in the European Fund Industry The assets under management within the European fund industry increased within the volatile but positive market environment over the course of Q1 2023. Therefore, it is no surprise that assets under management for all product types with the exception of real estate funds have increased. In more detail, the assets under management in the European fund industry increased from €13,313.1 bn as of December 31, 2022, to €13,809.3 bn at the end of March 2023. Graph 1: Assets Under Management in the European Fund Industry, January 1, 2002 – March 31, 2023

It was not surprising that March 2023 was in general a positive month for the European fund industry given the rather positive revisions of the economic outlooks for the major economies globally and a possible end of the interest hiking cycle of central banks in the near future. That said, mutual fund promoters (-€2.0 bn) faced outflows, while ETF promoters (+€13.0 bn) enjoyed inflows. The outflows from actively managed funds were driven by outflows from mixed-assets products (-€13.7 bn). Within the current market environment, it is somewhat surprising that European investors sold mixed-assets products since these products were European investors

As April 11, 2023, marks the twenty-third birthday of the European ETF industry, we took the chance to congratulate the industry and to publish our annual ETF Yearbook which reviews the trends in the European ETF industry and the wider ecosystem over the course of the year 2022. Even as the past 22 years were a real success story for the European ETF industry, the future does also look very bright, as I forecast in my market outlook that the assets under management in the European ETF industry will double to €2.5 tr before the end of 2030. Other topics