EUROPE: EFAMA survey confirms global brand status of UCITS

Friday July 4 2008

EFAMA has conducted a unique survey to assess the relative importance of Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East in the net sales and promotion of cross-border UCITS.

Twenty eight fund groups with combined assets of EUR 770 billion invested in international UCITS participated in the survey. Today EFAMA has published it key findings which include:

* In 2007, 90% of the net sales of the international UCITS promoted by the participating companies originated from Asia. The positive net sales in Asia and Latin America and outflows from Europe confirm that this trend has continued. Therefore UCITS sourced from Asia and Latin America now reach 14.3% and 3.1% of international UCITS assets managed by the participating fund managers, respectively.

* 82% of the participants in the survey consider that the proportion of UCITS held by investors in Asia is set to grow in the coming years, with third-party global banks leading as distribution channels. And most fund managers (79% and 68%, respectively) agree that UCITS will accumulate increasingly more assets in the Middle East and Latin America.

The survey has confirmed the rise of UCITS as a ‘gold standard’ in Asia and other overseas regions. It has also identified the innovative character of UCITS and the high level of investor protection that it offers as well as being the only Europe based financial product to achieve broad investor acceptance inside and out of Europe. The survey further draws attention to the increased importance of Asian markets and oil exporting countries for UCITS growth and there are increased opportunities for business and diversification due to UCITS global success.