The data, which describes the trends in the European investment fund industry during the first quarter of 2016, shows that Ucits registered net outflows of €6bn (£4.6bn, $6.7bn), compared to net inflows of €122bn in the final quarter 2015.
Long-term Ucits – those that exclude money market funds – recorded net inflows of €4bn, compared to net inflows of €83bn – again representing a huge drop of 95%.
Net assets of Ucits fell by 3.4% to €7,907bn, and total net assets of Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) only decreased by 0.1%.
Overall net sales of Ucits and AIFs fell by 80%, reaching €37bn in the first quarter, compared to €171bn in Q4 2015 – mainly down to the sharp decline in Ucits sales.
Driven by strong sales of equity funds (up €2bn in Q1), AIF net sales proved resilient – reaching €43bn in the first quarter, compared to €48bn in Q4 2015.
Director of economics and research at Efama, Bernard Delbecque, said the huge decline in Ucits sales was due to the stock market sell-off at the beginning of the year, with uncertainties about interest rates having a “negative impact”.
“On a positive note, the net outflows remained very limited (0.07% of Ucits assets), and AIFs continued to show solid net sales level. This confirms that Ucits and AIF investors are resilient to market volatility,” he said.
Meanwhile, total European investment fund net assets fell by 2.1% in Q1 2016 to €13,039bn.
