Looking at the headline figures, the first nine months of 2018 seem to have been rough for the European fund industry. Even though the assets under management (AUM) (€10.7 tr) increased over the course of the year so far, the industry failed to attract significant new money. The net fund flows stood at €5.9 bn at the end of September. A closer view of the underlying trends shows that European investors have started to pull out money from bond funds and surprisingly also from money market products. The general fund-flow trends are a reaction of European investors to the recent

European investors pulled back further from long-term mutual funds as the market environment and general sentiment stayed negative. As a consequence, July was the third month posting net outflows from long-term mutual funds after 16 consecutive months showing net inflows. That said, European fund promoters still enjoyed net inflows into mixed-asset funds (+€1.1 bn) and real estate funds (+€0.7 bn), while all the other asset types in the segment of long-term mutual funds witnessed net outflows. Bond funds (-€0.7 bn), “other” funds (-€1.0 bn), commodity funds (-€1.1 bn), and alternative UCITS funds (-€1.9 bn) as well as equity funds  (-€2.1

Looking at the headline figures, first half 2018 could be considered a business-as-usual period for the European fund industry, since the assets under management (+€10.7 tr) increased in the first and second quarters of the year. But a closer look at the underlying trends shows that the recent geopolitical uncertainty and discussions of possible new tariffs in the U.S., which may result in a trade war, caused investors to change their asset allocations. Assets Under Management in the European Fund Industry The assets under management in the European fund industry increased from €10.4 tr to €10.7 tr over first half

European investors pulled back from long-term mutual funds as the market environment and the general sentiment turned negative. As a consequence, May was the first month posting net outflows from long-term mutual funds after 16 consecutive months showing net inflows. That said, European fund promoters still enjoyed net inflows into mixed-asset funds (+€2.5 bn), followed by commodity funds (+€1.4 bn) and alternative UCITS funds (+€1.4 bn) as well as real estate funds (+€0.4 bn), while net flows to “other” funds (-€0.8 bn), equity funds (-€7.4 bn) and bond funds (-€15.9 bn) were negative. These fund flows added up to overall

Richard Buxton, Head of U.K. Equities at Old Mutual Global Investors and manager of the Old Mutual U.K. Alpha Fund, discusses his key macro influencers for U.K. equities, including Brexit ramifications, the interest rate environment and the potential end of the bond market bull-run. On the the day before Lloyds Bank made its record profit announcement, he also outlines his favoured portfolio position in financials and why U.K. banks are in stronger positions than some of their European counterparts. Richard is speaking with Jake Moeller, Head of Lipper UK & Ireland Research in London on February 21, 2017.  About Richard