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24 July 2016

Financial Times: Brexit ‘stampede’ out of UK funds


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M&G, Schroders, Fidelity and Invesco suffered billions of euros of withdrawals in June as the first set of data since Britain’s vote to leave the EU shows how badly UK fund houses were hurt by the result.


European investors pulled at least €1bn from the each of the four large investment groups, which are either based in the UK or have large hubs in the country. M&G, Schroders, Fidelity and Invesco were among the five worst-hit asset managers in June.

Ali Masarwah, director of the Europe, Middle East and Africa research team at Morningstar, which collected the data, said UK managers suffered as investors looked to cut risk, selling out of equity funds and reducing their reliance on companies expected to be hurt by the referendum result.

“The last month was all about reducing risk because of the Brexit vote. The [fund houses with the largest outflows] are British names or have a main base in the UK, and you would expect a lot of investors to exit their funds,” he said.

“This was basically the stampede of nervous investors exiting these equity funds.”

Morningstar’s figures showed that equity funds domiciled in Europe, including the UK, suffered their largest redemptions last month since September 2011.[...]

America’s Franklin Templeton also ranked among the five asset managers with the largest outflows in Europe last month. The investment manager, which is best known for its emerging market funds, has struggled with outflows for more than a year.

Henderson Global Investors, another UK-based fund house, had the sixth-largest outflows, after suffering redemptions of more than €1bn from its European mutual funds during June, according to Morningstar.

Henderson was one of eight UK-based asset managers to suspend redemptions from its property funds as investors rushed to withdraw money following the Brexit vote.

Morningstar’s figures include exchange traded funds and open-ended funds, which are often used by retail investors, that are domiciled in Europe, including the UK.

Analysts said the outflow picture is likely to get worse, as institutional investors such as pension funds pull money from UK managers over the coming months.

Peter Lenardos, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, the investment bank, said that in addition to negative retail flows, it is also likely that institutional investors will delay transferring money they have already promised to asset managers. [...]

Full article on Financial Times (subscription required)



© Financial Times


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