14 October 2011

EFAMA report: Turmoil in financial markets sees investors retreat to safe havens

The main developments in August 2011 in the reporting countries can be summarised as follows:

• UCITS registered net outflows in August of €20 billion, compared to net outflows of €14 billion in July. A large turnaround in net inflows into money market funds was outpaced by significant outflows from all long-term UCITS categories.
• Long-term UCITS (UCITS excluding money market funds) witnessed in August the highest level of net outflows since October 2008. However, the level of net outflows (€53 billion) was considerably smaller than in the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy (€111 billion).
• Bond and balanced funds both witnessed sharp turnarounds in net flows in August to register net outflows of €13 billion and €11 billion, respectively.
• Net sales of equity funds plummeted to record net outflows of €26 billion, compared to net outflows of €1 billion in July.
• Money market funds experienced a sharp swing in net flows during August to record net inflows of €33 billion, compared to net outflows of €25 billion in July. August witnessed investors using money market funds as a safe haven, in contrast to events of October 2008 which saw money market funds losing €19 billion of net new money.
• Total non-UCITS enjoyed increased net sales in August of €8 billion, up from €6 billion in July. This was on account of an increase in net inflows to special funds (funds reserved to institutional investors) which climbed to €8 billion during the month, from €6 billion in July.
• Total assets of UCITS amounted to €5,556 billion at end August 2011, a decline of 4.7 per cent since end July.
• Total assets of non-UCITS also witnessed a decrease in net assets of 1.3 per cent to stand at €2,068 billion. Consequently, at end August, non-UCITS had net assets still higher than at end 2010, whereas the level of UCITS assets had retreated to July 2010 levels.

Press release

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