Fund companies in Germany recorded a net inflow of €38 billion in the first half of 2023 as the industry’s assets rose to €4 trillion, according to BVI, Germany’s investment funds association.
“While net sales of retail funds increased from EUR 8.3 to EUR 10.9 billion compared to the same period last year, institutional investors held back on new investments in Spezialfonds,” said BVI.
“These funds recorded EUR 18.5 billion from the beginning of January to the end of June.
“In the first six months of 2022, they attracted EUR 47.1 billion. In terms of assets, Spezialfonds remain the largest group with EUR 2,015 billion.
“They are followed by open-ended retail funds with EUR 1,334 billion, mandates with EUR 599 billion and closed-ended funds with EUR 52 billion.
“At mid-year, the fund industry managed a total of EUR 4,001 billion for institutional and private investors in Germany. This is five percent more than at the beginning of the year (EUR 3,805 billion).”
Spezialfonds are alternative investment funds (AIF) for institutional investors.
“The sales list of open-ended retail funds is headed by equity funds,” said BVI.
“They received EUR 9.4 billion in the first half of the year. Of this, EUR 5.3 billion is accounted for by actively managed funds and EUR 4.1 billion by ETFs.
“Money market funds are the second strongest group with EUR 3.0 billion. Their new business usually varies strongly compared to other funds.
“For example, they received around EUR 5 billion in the second quarter, after outflows of just under EUR 2 billion in the first quarter. Bond funds recorded inflows of EUR 2.9 billion this year.
“New business was dominated by funds focusing on corporate bonds. They attracted EUR 2.7 billion. Property funds received net inflows of EUR 1.1 billion from the beginning of January to the end of June.
“Balanced funds recorded outflows of EUR 4.3 billion in the first half of the year. After many years of high inflows, the trend from the second half of 2022 continued in this group, when net outflows of EUR 3.8 billion were recorded.”