Assets under management of Luxembourg-domiciled funds hit $3.204bn (€2.383bn) at the end of December, a gain of 13.7% from the same point a year earlier, according to the Association of the Luxembourg Funds Industry (Alfi).
Net sales for 2012 amounted to $165bn, representing around 37% of the total for Europe of $441bn, the data showed.
With 3,841 investment funds – or 13,420 fund units – Luxembourg “thus remains the largest investment fund centre in Europe, followed by France and Germany, and the second largest investment fund centre in the world after the US,” Alfi said in a statement this morning.
At a press event in London called to announce the results and discuss industry trends, the association’s chairman, Marc Saluzzi, noted that the growth in fund sales in Europe in 2012 was not limited to Luxembourg, but occurred elsewhere on the Continent as well, as confidence returned to the investment arena.
However, he noted, institutional investors noticeably outpaced their retail counterparts in this regard, as individual European fund buyers – spooked by the recent downturn – are not coming back to the market as enthusiastically.
“That’s a significant challenge for the European investment fund management industry,” Saluzzi added.
“And I think that, to get those retail investors back into funds, [the industry] will have to be more cost-efficient, more transparent, and create a new system of investment opportunity for those retail investors who have been shocked by the impact of the crisis.”
