Long-term mutual funds comparing poorly to this time last year - Global FlowWatch January 2016

Globally, long-term mutual funds experienced net redemptions of US$28 billion in January, in sharp contrast to the US$107 billion deposited by investors during the same period a year ago. 'Other' funds, which include alternative investments, real estate and guaranteed products, were the only major asset class attracting net new money with US$17 billion.

However, this was more than offset by a collective US$44 billion that flowed out of equity, mixed and bond vehicles. Equity products suffered the largest net redemptions with US$23 billion, accounting for 52% of the total outflows during the month.

At the regional level, only Local Asia (excluding existing funds in China, which report assets on a quarterly basis) was able to garner net new money with US$26 billion. Cross-border led the outflows, totaling US$31 billion in net redemptions, followed by the U.S. (including variable annuities) at US$18 billion. Local Europe, Latin America, and Canada saw net redemptions of US$4.5 billion, US$0.6 billion, and US$0.1 billion respectively.