Stalling fund companies missed out on fund flow surge

The latest report from consultancy Strategic Insight suggests many fund groups missed out on the return of investor appetite for funds as they were too busy cost cutting.

The report from the New York-based consultancy says mutual funds globally saw $100 billion of net inflows in the first four months of 2009, with Europe and Asia accounting for almost 90% of this figure. In Europe the inflows were predominantly in money markets funds, although bond and equity funds also showed signs of dramatic improvement after two disappointing years.

In the meantime in Asia fund inflows were dominated by new fund launches. Approximately 25 fund launches in April alone managed to raise over $100 million each, with only one of these coming from the US and the majority in Asia.

'Smart fund managers are seizing the recovery of opportunities in many areas, from corporate bond to emerging markets, and even green themes,' said Jag Alexeyev, Strategic Insight’s head of global research. 'Nearly $1 billion went into an environment related green fund in Japan during April, and over $2 billion into a new offering in China during May.  These and other developments are reigniting the industry after a year of hardship.  But a lot of fund companies were so busy scaling back that they missed out on the possibilities, and some still remain in the dark.'