The Investment Company Institute, the mutual fund industry's trade association, released its latest "Worldwide Mutual Fund Assets and Flows" data collection, which shows that global money market mutual fund assets increased sharply in the Fourth Quarter of 2014. The latest report says total worldwide money fund assets jumped $101.7 billion to $4.531 trillion (or $4.853 trillion including Australia, which was missing from the report), led by large increases in the U.S. and China. Chinese MMFs continued their explosive growth, moving into fourth place among all money fund countries ahead of Australia and Luxembourg. Ireland, which jumped ahead of France as the second largest money market fund country last quarter, solidified its No. 2 position as France continued a steep asset slide. Globally, MMF assets increased by $93.3 billion, or 2.0%, over the past year (through 12/31/14). Note that the totals are in USD, so strength in the dollar caused most foreign asset totals to look weak.
ICI's latest quarterly "Worldwide Mutual Fund Assets" release says, "Mutual fund assets worldwide increased 0.2 percent to $31.38 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2014. Worldwide net sales to all funds was $364 billion in the fourth quarter.... Inflows into bond funds totaled $79 billion in the fourth quarter, down from $106 billion of net inflows in the third quarter. Money market funds experienced inflows of $144 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014 compared to $89 billion net inflows recorded in the third quarter of 2014."
It continues, "Money market funds worldwide experienced a net inflow of $144 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014 after registering a net inflow of $89 billion in the third quarter of 2014. The global inflow to money market funds in the fourth quarter was driven by inflows of $121 billion in the Americas and $36 billion in the Asia Pacific region."
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 Q4'14 with $2.725 trillion (56.2% of all worldwide MMF assets). Assets increased by $121.2 billion in Q4'14 and were up by $6.9B in the 12 months through Dec. 31, 2014. As previously mentioned, Ireland remained the second largest money market fund country. Ireland ended Q4 with $379.0 billion (7.8% of worldwide assets), down $10.0B for the quarter but up $11.5B over the last 12 months. France stayed in third place among countries overall with $349.2 billion (7.2% of worldwide assets), down $31.3 billion in Q4 and down $87.3 billion over 1 year.
China continued its dramatic money fund growth in Q4; it now reports $336.2B in money fund assets (6.9% of the worldwide total), up $48.4B (16.8%) in Q4 and up a massive $212.9 billion (272.2%) over the last 12 months. Much of its growth comes from Yu'e Bao, the USD $93 billion money market fund from Ant Financial, an arm of tech giant Alibaba. See our March 30 Link of the Day, "Yu'e Bao and Chinese Money Funds," which says, "Tech in Asia writes, "Alibaba-affiliated money market fund Yu'ebao users hit 185 million for 2014 ... up more than four times the previous year's count of 43 million. The fund's worth in assets reached RMB 578 (about US$93 billion) by the year's end, marking a 200 percent annual increase.""
Australia dropped to 5th place worldwide, down $16.5B over the past year to $322.1B (6.6%). But note that ICI's data didn't include money fund figures for Australia again this quarter. So we continue to estimate these at $322 billion, the same amount as two quarters again. (Australia's MMF assets were shifted into the "Other" category two quarters ago; we're still seeking an explanation from Australia's fund association.) Luxembourg fell to 6th place with $304.3B, or 6.3% of the total (down $1.8 billion in Q4 and down $16.4B for 1 year).
ICI's latest Worldwide statistics also show Korea ($76.3B, down $5.3B and up $12.4B on the quarter and year, respectively), Mexico ($49.0B, down $6.1B and down $3.9B), and Brazil ($44.8B, down $7.5B and up $1.8B), in the 7th through 9th largest money fund market spots. India remained in 10th place with $28.3B, down $1.6B for the quarter and down $1.0B for the year. Taiwan, Canada, South Africa, Sweden, and Chile ranked 11 through 15th respectively, with Chile jumping ahead of Switzerland and Japan. Finland, Norway, and Italy round out 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, or our MFI International product.
In 2015, Crane Data's Money Fund Intelligence International, which tracks the "offshore" or international money fund market (mainly domiciled in Dublin and Luxembourg), shows assets down $21.1 billion year-to-date through March 31, 2015, to $733.6 billion. USD-denominated money funds are down $6.1 billion YTD to $377.6B. GBP-denominated MMFs are up L12.9 billion to L165.3, while Euro-denominated money funds are up E2.4 billion to E93.1.
In other international MMF news, Canadian fund company Smart Investment Ltd terminated three of its funds, including a money market fund, according to a press release." The release says, "Smart Investments Ltd. announced today that it plans to terminate the operation of the Pro Money Market Fund.... On or about June 1, 2015 these funds will be terminated."
