As of year-end 2023, Austria’s investment fund industry had a total net asset value of € 213.2 billion, an increase of € 12.9 billion or 6.5% compared with year-end 2022. This was despite having to stem aggregated net outflows of funds of € 1.1 bn, with outflows registered in particular for real estate funds (- €1.7 billion) and mixed funds (- €1.5 billion), while bond funds (+ €1.7 billion) and equity funds (+ € 460 million) posted inflows. Overall, measured in terms of assets managed, Austria’s Asset Managers achieved the second best result of all time, and managed to recover more than a third of the slump of around € 30 billion sustained in 2022, which was in particular triggered by the capital market turbulences as a result of Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine. Compared with the previous year, the funds offered on the Austrian investment fund market remained stable: As in 2022, there were 14 investment fund management companies and 60 alternative investment fund managers authorised to distribute funds in the reporting year; they offered 1,191 alternative investment funds (AIFs) as well as 883 domestic undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) – in 2022 1,197 AIFs and 873 UCITS were offered. These are the findings of the Austrian Financial Market Authority's (FMA) report on Asset Managers for the 4th Quarter and Full Year for 2023.
A broad range on offer – strongest growth in sustainability funds
In the long-term net inflows of funds can particularly be observed in equity funds, in the case of bond funds, there were net inflows for the first time during the reporting year after many years of net outflows of funds, as was also the case for mixed funds. Sustainability funds remains the strongest growing market segment: As of year-end 2023, funds in accordance with the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) reached a total volume of € 99.1 billion (+21.4% or + € 17.5 billion compared with 2022), which already corresponds to 46.5% of the total volume of funds. When the first survey of this relatively new category was conducted, the volume was approx. € 53 billion (reporting date: 30.06.2021). Of particular note is the fact that of those, € 96.7 billion are in “light green funds” pursuant to Article 8 SFDR, and € 2.4 billion in “dark green funds” pursuant to Article 9 SFDR.
As of 31.12.2023 Austria’s asset managers managed 1,135 mixed funds with € 98.0 bn in assets (+ 5.1% or + € 4.8 bn in 2023), 430 bond funds with € 58.5 bn (+ 11.5% or + € 6.1 bn), 355 equity funds with € 40.8 bn (+ 11.8% or + € 4.3 bn), 49 short-term bond funds with € 4.3 bn (- 14.3% or – € 0.7 bn), 43 private equity funds with € 1.3 bn (+ 17.0% or + € 0.4 bn), 43 other funds with € 0.4 bn (- 10.5% or – € 41 million) as well as 19 real estate funds with managed assets of € 9.6 bn (- 14.8% or – € 1.7 bn).
Dynamic offering of foreign funds in Austria
Out of the 11,229 foreign funds approved for distribution in Austria as at 31.12.2023, 8,098 (+106) were Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) and 3,131 (+499) alternative investment funds (AIFs). The total number of foreign funds again increased significantly. More than half of the foreign funds originate from Luxembourg, followed by Ireland, Germany and France.
The full report can be found on the FMA website (in German only) at: https://www.fma.gv.at/investmentfonds-und-verwaltungsgesellschaften/quartalsberichte/
Journalists may address further enquiries to:
Klaus Grubelnik (FMA Media Spokesperson)
+43/(0)1/24959-6006
+43 / (0)676 / 88249516