GLOBAL – Worldwide investment fund assets, comprising US mutual funds and UCITS, were 10.7 trillion euros at the end of 2002, having dropped 18% over the year, according to the latest figures from FEFSI, the European Federation of Investment Funds and Companies.

The decline from 13.1 trillion euros at the beginning of 2002 is attributed to weak stock markets, boosted further by the weak dollar - many of the reporting countries saw lower asset decreases measured in their local currency.

Stock market losses resulted in assets in equity funds dropping 31% in euros to 4 trillion euros, or 22% if measured in dollars. Balanced funds also posted a drop of 17.8% to 865 billion euros. Bond funds fell only slightly to 2.39 trillion euros from 2.47 trillion euros. Money market funds fell to 3.04 trillion euros from 3.35 trillion euros.

In terms of asset allocation these results mean that equity funds represented only 37% of all worldwide investment fund assets at the end of 2002, down from 44% a the end of 2001. The asset share of bond funds rose from 19% to 22%, and money market funds increased form 26% to 28%.

The US and Europe still dominate the world market, with a share of 57% and 30.9% of investment fund assets respectively. Australia, Japan, Canada, Hong Kong and Brazil follow in this ranking.


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