The Investment Company Institute released its latest data on "Worldwide Mutual Fund Assets and Flows (Third Quarter 2014)," which shows that global money market mutual fund assets increased slightly in the latest quarter (Q3 '14). The latest data show worldwide money market mutual fund assets rising by $12.5 billion to $4.751 trillion, led by inflows from the U.S. and Asia. Asia continues to show strong growth, led by another rapid increase in Chinese money fund assets. Also of note, Ireland moved ahead of France as the second largest money market fund country. Crane Data's Money Fund Intelligence International, through Dec. 29, shows that total "offshore" or international money fund assets (which are mainly domiciled in Dublin) grew by $67.5 billion in 2014 to $746.7 billion. Globally, MMF assets increased by $59.1 billion over the past year (through 9/30/14). We excerpt from ICI's latest "Worldwide" release and analyze the money fund portion below.
ICI's latest quarterly Worldwide Mutual Funds release says, "Mutual fund assets worldwide decreased 2.1 percent to $31.32 trillion, at the end of the third quarter of 2014, largely due to significant U.S. dollar appreciation. Worldwide net cash flow to all funds was $320 billion in the third quarter, compared to $285 billion of net inflows in the second quarter of 2014. Flows into long-term funds shrunk to $232 billion in the third quarter from an inflow of $352 billion in the previous quarter. Equity funds worldwide had net inflows of $31 billion in the third quarter, down from $65 billion of net inflows in the second quarter. Inflows into bond funds totaled $104 billion in the third quarter, down from $155 billion of net inflows in the second quarter. Money market funds experienced inflows of $89 billion in the third quarter of 2014 compared to the $67 billion outflow recorded in the second quarter of 2014."
ICI continues, "Money market funds worldwide experienced a net inflow of $89 billion in the third quarter of 2014 after registering a net outflow of $67 billion in the second quarter of 2014. The global inflow to money market funds in the third quarter was driven by inflows of $42 billion in the Americas, $18 billion in Europe, and $31 billion in the Asia Pacific regions."
According to Crane Data's analysis of ICI's worldwide funds data, the U.S. maintained its position as the largest money fund market in Q3'14 with $2.604 trillion (up to 59.0% of all worldwide MMF assets). Assets increased by $43.7 billion in Q3'14, though they are down by $76.5B in the 12 months through Sept. 30, 2014. As previously mentioned, Ireland unseated France as the second largest money market fund country. Ireland ended Q3 with $388.9 billion (8.8% of worldwide assets), down $3.9B for the quarter but up $26.0B over the last 12 months. France fell to third place among countries overall with $380.6 billion (8.6% of worldwide assets), down $38.6 billion in Q3 and down $62.0 billion over 1 year.
Australia remained in 4th place in the latest quarter, where assets were flat in the quarter (due to our estimating these) and down $22.3B over the past year to $322.1B (7.3%). Luxembourg remained in 5th place with $306.1B, or 6.9% of the total (down $1.5 billion in Q3 and down $15.5B for 1 year). Note that ICI's data didn't include money fund figures for Australia, the fourth largest country, again this quarter, so we included $322 billion for this, the same amount as last quarter.
China continued its dramatic money fund growth in Q3 of 2014. The 6th largest money fund country saw assets jump again. China now reports $287.7B in total, up $31.0B (12.1%) in Q3 and up a massive $207.9 billion (260.2%) over the last 12 months. ICI's latest Worldwide statistics also show Korea ($81.6B, up $8.2B and up $12.7B on the quarter and year, respectively), Mexico ($55.2B, down $1.0B and down $753M), and Brazil ($52.4B, down $5.4B and up $1.5), in the 7th through 9th largest money fund market spots. Mexico bumped Brazil out of the 8th spot. India remained in 10th place with $52.4B, down $6.0B for the quarter but up $10.4B for the year. Taiwan, Canada, South Africa, Sweden, Japan, Switzerland, Chile, Finland, Norway, and Italy also ranked among the 20 largest countries that have money market mutual funds.
Note that Ireland and Luxembourg's totals are primarily "offshore" money funds marketed to global multinationals, while most of the other countries in the survey have primarily domestic money fund offerings. (Crane Data believes that some of these countries, like France and Italy, do not have true "money market funds" due to their lack of strict guidelines and "accumulating" NAVs instead of stable NAVs.) Contact us if you'd like our latest "Largest Money Market Funds Markets Worldwide" spreadsheet, based on ICI's data.
Finally, looking at Crane Data's year-end international money fund totals for 2014, as previously stated, total offshore assets were up $67.5 billion in 2014 to $746.7 billion. USD-denominated funds grew slightly on the year, up $1.9 billion to $376.2. GBP-denominated MMFs were up L24.8 billion to L153.3, while Euro-denominated money funds were up E10.3 billion to E89.1.
