Looking at the headline figures, the year 2016 could be considered a good year for the European fund industry, since the assets under management (+€9.4 tr) hit an all-time high at the end of December 2016. In addition, the European fund industry enjoyed net inflows of €268.7 bn over the course of 2016. But a more detailed look at the underlying data unveils some trends that could change the market environment. Assets Under Management in the European Fund Industry The assets under management in the European fund industry increased from €8.9 tr to €9.4 tr over the course of the

August showed a positive picture for the European fund industry, since only funds from the “other” category   (-€0.6 bn) faced net outflows during the month. On the other side of the table bond funds (+€22.9 bn) were the best selling asset type of long-term funds for August, followed by mixed-asset funds (+€2.3 bn), alternative UCITS products (+€1.9 bn), equity funds (+€1.9 bn), real estate funds (+€0.2 bn), and commodity products (+€0.1 bn). These fund flows added to overall net inflows of €28.5 bn into long-term investment funds for August. Even though these flows, in combination with the money market fund

The chart below breaks down the European fund market by asset class as of the end of Q2 2016. Equity funds dominated the scene with a market share of 37% of the funds available for sale in Europe, followed by mixed-asset funds (28%), bond funds (21%), and money market funds (3%). The remaining 11% of “other” funds were real estate funds, commodity funds, guaranteed funds, and funds of hedge funds. Exhibit 1.  Market Share of Mutual Funds Registered for Sale in Europe by Asset Type as of the End of June 2016 Source: Lipper With regard to the overall number