Bond fund appetite drives Swiss industry figures

The volume of inflows into Swiss funds showed a 13% growth in 2012 compared to the year before, with interest in fixed income funds being the main driver.

That is according to the latest industry release by the Swiss Funds Association, which this week released its 2012 fund market statistics.

At the forefront of these figures was the growth of the industry in 2012 compared to 2011. Assets rose from CHF 631 billion (€509 billion) at the end of 2011 to CHF 712 billion (€574 billion) in the latest figures.

Funds for institutional investors accounted for CHF 283.8 billion (€192 billion) of the 2012 total.

The main source of this growth was said to be bond funds, which saw continued inflows even while other asset classes saw widespread withdrawals or slowing inflows.

Bond funds comprised CHF 244 billion (€196 billion) of the total assets in the Swiss funds industry. This compares to CHF 236 billion (€190 billion) being made up of investments in equity funds.

Dr. Matthäus Den Otter, CEO of the SFA, said: ‘Bond funds attracted the most new money, while money market funds posted the heaviest outflows, albeit with this trend clearly flattening off towards the end of the year.’

Development of Swiss fund market in Dec-2012 (in CHF millions)