03/03/2011
Large funds account for lion's share of subscriptions
The 2010 balance sheets for subscriptions/redemptions and asset volumes established by the Kommalpha agency finds that the vast majority of German open-ended funds played only a cameo role in the big picture last year. Most segments are dominated by a small number of large products, which attracted most of the inflows. For example, about 50% of total assets in equities funds went to less than 5% of the major funds. For bonds and diversified funds, the situation is not much different: in these areas, about 15% of funds account for half of assets under management.Meanwhile, three quarters of the smallest equities funds manage only 10% of total assets. For bonds and diversified funds, about 60% of products share only one tenth of total assets. The best sales last year were for Pinco (EUR17.5bn) and ETFs from db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank), with EUR5.4bn. However, Deka and Union Investment saw net outflows of EUR6.4bn and EUR2.8bn, respectively (see Newsmanagers of 11 February 2011). Kommalpha also reports that, among the few dozen funds which “made” the market in 2010, there were a growing number of ETFs. Although in absolute terms, these represent a small group compared to actively-managed funds, they saw net subscriptions of about EUR8.6bn last year, while actively-managed funds attracted only EUR10.7bn.
