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Q4 2018 FMA Report on the Austrian Funds Market

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(Vienna, 15 March 2019)

As of 31.12.2018 the Austrian funds industry has € 173.8 bn in funds under management. Funds under management fell by -5.4 % or € -10 billion during 2018, in particular due to the losses in value sustained during the 4th quarter of 2018. Across the whole year in 2018 only real estate funds were also to display positive growth of 10.8 % or € +0.8 billion. All other fund categories had to post negative results, in particular due to the losses they sustained. Money-market funds and short-term retirement funds were forced to absorb the highest proportional decrease of -9.8 % (€ -680 million), followed by equity funds with -8.8% (- € 2.5 billion). The latter decrease is all the more noticeable in the equity funds had posted growth during the first three quarters of 2018 of 6.6%. Pension funds fell by -6.2 % (€ -4.0 billion), mixed funds by -4.9 % (€ -3.7 billion).

Broken down by investment strategies the funds under management at year-end 2018 stood at € 72.1 billion for mixed funds, € 60.0 billion for retirement funds, € 25.9 billion for equity funds, € 8.5 billion for real estate funds, € 6.3 billion for money-market funds and short-term pension funds, € 0.6 for private equity funds and € 0.4 billion for other funds.

Following the merger of Erste Sparinvest Kapitalanlagegesellschaft GmbH with Erste Asset Management GmbH during the fourth quarter, as of 31.12.2018 16 investment fund management companies (KAGs) were present in the Austrian market, of which 14 also hold a licence as alternative investment fund managers (AIFMs). All five authorised real estate investment fund management companies also simultaneously hold an additional AIFM licence. Four undertakings only hold a licence as an AIFM. A further 27 undertakings are registered as AIFMs, of which seven undertakings are also authorised to operate as Managers of European Venture Capital Funds (EuVECAs).

As of 31.12.2018 Austrian Funds consisted of 979 Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) and 1099 Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs). In addition to the UCITS, 157 of the AIFs can be distributed to the public as public funds. Categorised by investment strategy they consist of 1,096 mixed funds, 493 bond funds, 342 equity funds, 63 money-market funds and short-term bond funds, 28 private equity funds, 18 real estate fund as well as 38 other funds. The total number of Austrian funds fell by six during 2018, with five ceasing operations in the last quarter of the year alone.

7,356 UCITS and 1,110 AIFs of foreign providers have been notified for distribution in Austria as of 31.12.2018. Broken down by their country of origin, Luxembourg, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Germany and France are particularly strongly represented. With the prospect of an imminent Brexit it has been observed that funds from Great Britain are increasingly relocating their headquarters to other EU Member States. In the second half of 2018 alone, the number of funds from Great Britain notified for distribution in Austria has fallen by 75 UCITS.

The full quarterly report may be found online (in German) on the FMA website at https://www.fma.gv.at/investmentfonds-und-verwaltungsgesellschaften/quartalsberichte/

Journalists may address further enquiries to:

Mr. Stefan Maier
+43/(0)1/24959-6001
+43/(0)676/882 49 426

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