Fund companies in this country raised more money from investors in the first quarter of this year than they have done in six years.

According to the industry association BVI, they received 59.9 billion euros net.

The inflows are almost equally divided between mutual funds and open-ended special funds and amount to 29.4 billion and 31.2 billion euros, respectively.

Closed-end funds recorded an increase of 1.6 billion euros.

In contrast, investors withdrew 2.4 billion euros net from mandates.

Kerstin Papon

Editor in business.

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    Open-ended mutual funds also recorded the second best new business ever in a quarter.

    The previous high was a good two decades ago and was reached in the first quarter of 2000 with 32.9 billion euros.

    The main sales drivers were now equity funds.

    In view of the price increases on the stock exchanges, investors have invested a net 22.8 billion euros in these funds, it is said.

    Equity funds last achieved such high inflows at the beginning of 2000, when they received 25 billion euros.

    The Dax has gained more than 10 percent this year.

    The index is currently close to its record high of 15,569 points, which was only reached on Tuesday.

    Mixed funds follow this year with inflows of 5.9 billion euros.

    Real estate funds achieved 2.2 billion euros.

    New label for classic funds

    The topic of sustainability has been the most important investment trend for some time. And so 41 percent of the new business in the open retail funds is accounted for by sustainable products. In the first quarter they received 12.2 billion euros. At the end of March, the fund industry was managing a total of 254 billion euros in sustainable retail and special funds. The increase of 107 billion euros compared to the end of the year (147 billion euros) is explained by the disclosure regulation of the EU for the classification of sustainable funds, which has been in force since March 10 of this year, says the BVI. Since then, only the products classified by the members as so-called Article 8 funds, i.e. funds with a sustainability strategy, and Article 9 funds, known as “impact funds”, have been considered sustainable.

    Before that, the BVI delimited sustainable funds in accordance with its rules of conduct. Accordingly, funds were only allowed to describe themselves as ecological, social, ethical or the like if the investment policy followed the strategies set out in the fund's documents, such as in the sales prospectus. Apparently, many fund companies have used the new EU guidelines to convert previous conventional products to sustainable investment strategies within the meaning of the Disclosure Ordinance, according to the BVI. Because in March 2021 alone, the assets of sustainable funds rose by almost 100 billion euros. Overall, the fund industry managed assets of EUR 3.95 trillion at the end of March 2021.