It’s fair to say that 2023 was a challenging year for portfolio managers around the globe since the markets were driven by a number of different factors and unpredictable incidents. Each of these could have caused a major market downturn on their own. First of all, there were a lot of geopolitical tensions around the globe beside the still ongoing war in Ukraine, which showed that democratic states might be more vulnerable than one may think. The concerns of investors, especially in Europe, increased toward the end of 2023 since the actions taken by the Houthi rebels in the Red

Since the outflows of €100.3 bn for the year 2023 marked the highest outflows from mixed-assets funds on record, it is worthwhile to analyze the underlying trends in this segment of the European fund industry, as we may see a new era for mixed-assets funds. Since ETFs play only a very minor role in the segment of mixed-assets funds, we won’t analyze the flows by product type. Graph 1: Estimated Annual Net Flows in Mixed-Assets Funds (Euro Billions) Source: Refinitiv Lipper Mixed-assets funds have been in the focus of European investors since after the credit crisis in 2008. This was

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

It was somewhat surprising that February 2023 was in general a negative 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. That said, mutual fund promoters (-€18.2 bn) faced outflows, while ETFs promoters (+€8.1 bn) enjoyed inflows. The outflows from actively managed funds were driven by outflows from money market products (-€18.8 bn). Within the current market environment, it is not surprising that European investors sold money market products since these products are considered as so-called safe-haven

2022 was a remarkable year for investors around the globe. Some may call it a year for the history books. Major economic and geopolitical headwinds resulted in falling equity and fixed income markets around the globe. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, investors were concerned about the still-disrupted delivery chains and increasing inflation rates when the year 2022 started. All these concerns became overshadowed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine since this meant that investors had to rewrite their playbook for the year. The war in Ukraine led to increasing prices for energy and food, which fuelled the already increasing

The European fund industry enjoyed inflows over the course of January 2023 as the markets were further recovering. The generally positive market trend was driven by expectations of a possible end of the monetary policy tightening cycle by central banks around the globe and better than expected economic growth in the major economies, which would fuel company earnings. That said, the promoters of mutual funds (+€17.7 bn) and the promoters of ETFs (+€18.9 bn) enjoyed inflows. Within this market environment, it was not surprising that European investors sold money market products since these products are considered safe-haven investments. Therefore, one

Given the generally positive market environment in December 2022, it was not surprising that the European fund industry enjoyed overall estimated inflows over the course of the month. That said, one needs to bear in mind that the geopolitical situation in Europe, the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, disrupted delivery chains, and increasing interest rates triggered by high inflation rates are all impacting investor expectations. Nevertheless, the estimated flows at the asset type level may indicate that European investors have shifted their positioning and are now somewhat in risk-on mode as long-term funds enjoyed overall inflows for the month. At the

Given the generally positive market environment over the course of October 2022, it was not surprising that the European fund industry enjoyed overall estimated inflows over the course of the month. That said, one needs to bear in mind that the geopolitical situation in Europe, the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, disrupted delivery chains, increasing interest rates triggered by high and in some cases still further increasing inflation rates are all impacting investor expectations. With regard to this, the estimated flows at the asset type level show that European investors are further in risk-off mode as long-term funds faced overall outflows,

Given the general market environment over the course of September 2022, it was not surprising that the European fund industry faced outflows over the course of the month. That said, one needs to bear in mind that the geopolitical situation in Europe, the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, disrupted delivery chains, an increasing inflation, and increasing interest rates are impacting the expectations of investors. In addition to this the market turmoil in the UK, the announcement of the so-called mini-budget at the end of September might have also contributed to the overall outflows from mutual funds and ETFs. The promoters of

Given the general market environment over the course of August 2022, it was not surprising that the European fund industry faced outflows over the course of the month. That said, one needs to bear in mind that the geopolitical situation in Europe, the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, disrupted delivery chains, an increasing inflation, and increasing interest rates are impacting the expectations of investors. The promoters of mutual funds (-€12.3 bn) faced outflows while the promoters of ETFs (+€1.1 bn) enjoyed inflows. With regard to the accelerating rise of inflation rates and various other economic uncertainties, it is not surprising that

Given the positive market environment over the course of July 2022, it was somewhat surprising that the European fund industry faced outflows over the course of the month. That said, one needs to bear in mind that the geopolitical situation in Europe, the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, disrupted delivery chains, an increasing inflation and increasing interest rates are impacting the expectations of the investors. The promoters of mutual funds (-€41.2 bn) and ETFs (-€0.4 bn) faced outflows. The outflows from ETFs were the first outflows from these products since March 2020. With regard to accelerating rise of inflation rates and