Sales activity across Europe is still mainly driven by high net worth individuals and private banking investors, according to data from Lipper.
Emerging markets equity and fixed income products, with either a global or emerging market flavour, attract the bulk of net sales.
Lipper says the loss of banks as fund distributors across Europe may slow the pace of recovery but this will not adversely affect all cross-border players.
Ed Moisson head of UK and cross-border research at Lipper, says: “Retail investors remain largely insensitive to annual fee levels — so the soundness of a fund company undercutting the competition to grow business remains unproven.”
The report also says that any notion of a price war is still premature — although there are early signs of greater use of passive funds in packages/solutions.
Annual fees borne by retail investors will continue to rise, even if this is not as part of the fund itself, the report says.
