That’s according to Lipper, an investment fund data provider that is part of Refinitiv (the financial and risk information unit spun out of the Thomson Reuters group last year).

Detlef Glow, head of EMEA research at Lipper, wrote in a research memo released on 4 February:

“The European fund industry faced estimated net outflows of €129.2bn in 2018 after six consecutive years with net inflows. The flows were mainly driven by the discussions about a possible trade war between the USA and China, as well as a possible return of the Euro crisis caused by developments in Italy and France, and an environment of rising interest rates in the USA.”

European long-term investment funds saw net outflows of €65.6bn in December 2018 alone, with Luxembourg representing the biggest chunk of that (-€28.8bn), Lipper said last week.

Good year for ETFs, real estate funds; bad year for bond funds

Assets under management in the European fund industry dropped from €10.4trn to €9.9trn over the course of 2018, Lipper said on Monday. Roughly three-quarters of the decline (-€417.3bn) was due to poor market performance, while net sale outflows (-€129.2bn) accounted for the rest.

European exchange-traded funds recorded positive net sales (+€42.2bn) last year, although market performance pushed total assets under management in ETFs down from €656.8bn at the end of December 2017 to €633.1bn at the end of December 2018.

Mixed asset funds (+€12.9bn) and real estate funds (+€6.8 bn) also recorded net inflows.

Bond funds (-€109.2 bn), alternative Ucits funds (-€33.0bn) and equity funds (-€16.9bn) all saw net outflows.

The Lipper report stated that:

“European fund promoters liquidated 1,190 funds over the course of 2018, while 994 funds were merged into other funds. In contrast, European fund promoters launched 2,367 funds. This meant the European fund market increased by 183 funds over the course of 2018.”

Blackrock, Amundi, JP Morgan, UBS and Deutsche Bank were the fund promoters with the most assets under management in 2018.

Blackrock, Aviva, UBS, H20 Asset Management and Vanguard Group were the fund promoters with the biggest net sales last year, according to the Lipper data.