Investment fund performance declined moderately in 2015

 

The total profits of investment funds registered in Finland for 2015, EUR 3.9 bn, declined by approximately 30% from the previous year. Based on average fund capital1 , the profit rate also declined to 4.2%, from 6.9% in 2014. Performance remained positive, however, despite negative changes in the value of securities owned by the funds.  


Among the different types of fund, performance declined most in mixed funds, whose profit rate fell by 6.7 percentage points from the previous year. Similarly, the performance of real-estate funds and bond funds declined by approximately 5 percentage points compared with 2014. The performance of equity, money market and hedge funds, on the other hand, remained at roughly last year’s level.

Investment fund expenses in 2015 grew by just over EUR 0.1 bn from the previous year’s figure of EUR 1.2 bn. Relative to average fund capital, expenses remained at the previous year’s level, however.

Examined by type of fund, expense rates were largely in line with the previous year, although hedge and real-estate fund expenses declined; real-estate fund expenses were 0.8 percentage points lower in 2015 compared with 2014, and hedge fund expenses were 2.2 percentage points lower. Only with respect to bond funds and mixed funds did expense rates grow, and by less than 0.2 percentage points.

The total fund capital of investment funds at the end of 2015 stood at EUR 98.7 bn, representing an increase of EUR 12.7 bn during the financial year. Most of this increase, EUR 8.8 bn, is explained by net investments in the funds and only less than a third is attributable to performance.

At the end of 2015, there were 494 investment funds open to the public operating and registered in Finland, managed by 30 fund companies.

This year, the Bank of Finland will stop collection of investment funds’ financial statement data in its present form, and therefore publication of this annual release will also be discontinued.

 

Financial statements of investment funds 2015 and key figures 1995-2015.xls

Key financial figures of fund management companies, (Financial Supervisory Authority)


For further information, please contact:
Tommi Aarnio, tel. +358 10 831 2480, email: tommi.aarnio(at)bof.fi.

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1 Here, average fund capital is calculated as the average of the levels of total fund capital at the start and at the end of the year.