The strongest year-on-year growth was reported between 1Q14 and 1Q15, with assets increasing by 32.9% to €37.7trn. This was followed by growth of 24.3% during the second quarter.
Between 4Q14 and 4Q15, global open-ended fund assets increased by 12%.
The weakest year-on-year growth was reported during the third quarter. Compared with the same quarter in 2014, global open-ended fund assets rose by 10.4%. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, however, a decrease of 6% was reported.
Equity fund net assets increased by 8.4% to €14.8trn, with bond fund assets up 2.2% to €7.5trn during 4Q15. Balanced/mixed fund assets rose by 5.3% to €6.7trn, while money market fund assets were up 7.7% globally to €4.7trn.
At the end of 2015, 40% of worldwide regulated open-ended fund net assets were held in equity funds. The net asset share of bond funds was 20% and balanced/mixed funds were 18%. Money market fund net assets represented 13% of the worldwide total.
The US and Europe held the largest global shares of investment fund net assets at the end of 2015, with 48.4% and 33.2%, respectively; followed by Australia (3.8%), Japan (3.3%), China (3.1), Canada (2.9%), Brazil (2.8%), Rep. of Korea (0.9%), India (0.4%), and South Africa (0.4%).
Luxembourg is the second largest fund domicile after the US, accounting for 9.5% of global investment fund assets at the end of 2015. The four other European countries in the top 10 are Ireland (5.1%), Germany (4.7%), France (4.6%), and the UK (4.0%).
