UCITS equity funds achieved their highest level of net sales since December 2015 in July, according to the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA).
EFAMA’s latest market data found that net inflows into UCITS and alternative investment funds (AIFs) totalled €96 billion at the end of July, up from €65 billion in June.
UCITS alone registered net inflows of €83 billion in July, up from €34 billion the month before.
Net sales of equity funds totalled €19 billion, up from €9 billion over the same period, while net sales of bond funds and multi-asset funds totalled €29 billion and €11 billion, respectively.
EFAMA’s survey included 29 associations representing more than 99 percent of UCITS and AIF assets.
UCITS funds, which are already some of the most highly regulated fund types participating in securities lending recently, recently avoided further constraints after the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) backed down over proposed asset segregation rules that would inadvertently rule them outs the lending pool.
Mutual funds, including UCITS, account for now just under half of all securities made available for lending (46 percent), but their percentage of all open trades still remains disproportionately low at roughly 14 percent, according to the the International Securities Lending Association’s (ISLA) August market report.
ISLA, which runs a working group to help UCITS with upcoming asset management regulation, is one of the primary market bodies consulting with regulators to tackle market issues such as liquidity squeezes.
The association commended ESMA on its revision on minimum EU-wide segregation requirements for UCITS and alternative investment funds.
