As of the end of the first quarter of 2019, Austrian investment funds managed assets of around € 181.9 billion[1]. Funds under management therefore increased during the first three months of 2019, in particular due to gains in price by +4.7% or € 8.1 billion. At the same time there was a net outflow of funds of € 150 million. As of the reporting date 16 investment fund management companies[2](KAGs) were active in Austrian and 50 authorised alternative investment fund managers (AIFMs[3]), which on the one hand had established 958 “undertaking for collective investment in transferable securities” (UCITS), and on the other hand 1,104 alternative investment funds (AIFs). The total number of funds was reduced by 16 during the first quarter. The breakdown by investment strategy of Austrian funds is as follows: 1,103 mixed funds (€ 75.6 bn, +4.8%), 488 bond funds (€ 61.5 bn, +2.5%), 333 equity funds (€ 28.9 billion, +11.6%), 18 real estate funds (€ 8.8 bn, +3.8%), 63 money-market funds and short-term bond funds (€ 6.1 bn, -3.4%), 29 private equity funds (€ 0.6 bn), as well as 28 other funds (€ 0.4 bn). These are the findings of the FMA’s Report on Asset Management for Q1 2019, which was published today.
Change of focus towards thematic funds
“Asset Management in the Austrian financial market is becoming more diverse, complex and specialised in the long term”, remarked the FMA’s Executive Board, Helmut Ettl and Klaus Kumpfmüller: “The focus is shifting from standardised investment products to thematically oriented ones, such as ‘sustainable finance’”. While the number of KAGs has decreased from 24 to 16 since 2014, the number of AIFMs during the same period has increased from 40 to 50. The number of Austrian UCITS has fallen from 1,100 to 958 during the same period, with AIFs increasing from 1,052 to 1,104. 14 KAGs and 5 real estate investment fund management companies (Immo-KAGs) also in addition have an AIFMG licence and are therefore also active as AIFMs. Four providers are active solely on the basis of an AIFMG licence, with 27 merely registered as AIFMs. Furthermore, seven are additionally authorised as managers of European venture capital funds (EuVECAs).
As of the end of the first quarter of 2019, 7,477 UCITs (+121) and 1,188 AIFs (+78) from the European Economic Area (EEA) had notified about distribution in Austria. The number of funds from Europe that have been authorised for distribution in Austria has risen strongly since 2014, from 6,382 to 8,665. Broken down by their country of origin, Luxembourg, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Germany and France are particularly strongly represented. British funds are increasingly relocating their registered office in light of the prospect of an impending threat of a “Hard Brexit” to other EU Member States, with the number of UCITS notified from Great Britain falling by 45 during the first quarter, and the AIFs falling by 72.
The complete “FMA Report on Asset Management for the 1st Quarter of 2019” can be downloaded from the FMA Website (in German only) under https://www.fma.gv.at/investmentfonds-und-verwaltungsgesellschaften/quartalsberichte/
Journalists may address further enquiries to:
Klaus Grubelnik
+43/(0)1/24959-6006
+43/(0)676 88 249 516
[1] Aggregated Funds under Management as Net Asset Value (NAV)
[2] under the Investment Funds Act 2011 (InvFG 2011; Investmentfondsgesetz 2011)
[3] under the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Act (AIFMG; Alternative Investmentfonds Manager-Gesetz)