Asia leading the way - New funds in global markets - Q4 2019

A total of 1,379 new funds were launched in Q4 2019 in Asia and Europe. Net sales into the new launches were US$102 billion through the fourth quarter of 2019.

Q4 2019 saw 123 ETFs launched, 78 of which were launched in Asia, 26 of which were European and 19 of which were cross-border launches.

Asian funds market share of net sales continued to lead the way among the three regions, reaching a record high in the last three years.  

Over the course of Q4, Asia saw the highest average sales flows, at US$90 million per fund, while local Europe and cross-border funds experienced a decline in average sales per fund, with US$51 million and US$55 million, respectively.

Bond products attracted the largest absolute net flows, at US$53 billion, followed by equity and mixed-asset class with net sales of US$20 billion and US$19 billion, respectively, in Q4 2019. 

A total of 875 new funds were launched in Asia in Q4 2019, gathering US$76 billion in new investor money. Bond funds attracted the largest absolute inflows, at US$43 billion, with 225 new funds launched in the period. 

Net sales flows into European and cross-border funds totalled US$32 billion in Q4 2019. The number of funds issued in the quarter also dropped, with 197 equity funds, 154 mixed funds and 125 in fixed income products. Bond products surpassed equity products and became the most popular asset class during the fourth quarter, with US$10 billion in net sales. Mixed asset funds saw US$8 billion of net sales flows and equity funds gathered US$7 billion in net sales during the quarter.

Over the course of 2019, nearly $500 billion of net sales were generated through 5,834 new launches across Asia and Europe.

Fixed income funds were the most popular asset class amongst new fund launches with more than US$188 billion of net flows, nearly US$40 billion more than in 2018. Mixed asset funds saw sales flows of US$119 billion while equity funds collected US$101 billion of net sales over the year.