The Investment Company Institute released its "Worldwide Regulated Open-End Fund Assets and Flows Fourth Quarter 2016" yesterday. The latest data collection on mutual funds in other countries (as well as the U.S.) shows that money fund assets globally fell by $22.1 billion, or -0.4% in Q4'16, led by decreases in China, France and Korea. MMF assets worldwide have decreased by $42.6 billion, or -0.8%, the past 12 months. The U.S., Ireland and Brazil showed the biggest asset increases in Q4'16, while Luxembourg, France, Brazil, and India showed the largest increases in 2016. China, The U.S., Japan and Belgium posted the largest declines over the past year. We review the latest `Worldwide MMF totals below.
ICI's release says, "Worldwide regulated open-end fund assets decreased 1.2 percent to $40.36 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2016, excluding funds of funds.... The Investment Company Institute compiles worldwide open-end fund statistics on behalf of the International Investment Funds Association, the organization of national fund associations.... Bond fund assets decreased by 2.9 percent to $8.94 trillion in the fourth quarter. Balanced/mixed fund assets decreased by 2.4 percent to $5.32 trillion in the fourth quarter, while money market fund assets decreased by 0.3 percent globally to $5.04 trillion."
It explains, "At the end of the fourth quarter of 2016, 42 percent of worldwide regulated open-end fund assets were held in equity funds. The asset share of bond funds was 22 percent and the asset share of balanced/mixed funds was 13 percent. Money market fund assets represented 12 percent of the worldwide total. By region, 52 percent of worldwide assets were in the Americas in the fourth quarter of 2016, 35 percent were in Europe, and 13 percent were in Africa and the Asia-Pacific regions."
The release adds, "Globally, bond funds posted an inflow of $115 billion in the fourth quarter of 2016, after recording an inflow of $281 billion in the third quarter. Inflows from balanced/mixed funds worldwide totaled $36 billion in the fourth quarter of 2016, compared with $47 billion of inflows in the third quarter of 2016. Money market funds worldwide experienced an inflow of $75 billion in the fourth quarter of 2016 after registering an inflow of $47 billion in the third quarter of 2016."
According to Crane Data's analysis of ICI's "Worldwide" fund data, the U.S. maintained its position as the largest money fund market in Q4'16 with $2.728 trillion (or 54.2% of all global MMF assets). U.S. MMF assets increased by $56.1 billion in Q4'16 and decreased by $26.6B in the 12 months through Dec. 31, 2016. China remained in second place among countries overall, though assets fell sharply in the latest quarter and year. China saw assets decline $47.6 billion (down 7.2%) in Q4 to $616.9 billion (12.3% of worldwide assets). Over the last 12 months through Dec. 31, 2016, Chinese MMF assets have dropped $67.6 billion, or 9.9%.
Ireland remained third among these country rankings, ending Q4 with $504.0 billion (10.0% of worldwide assets). Dublin-based MMFs were up $8.7B for the quarter, or 1.8%, and down $4.8B, or -0.9%, over the last 12 months. France remained in fourth place with $364.0 billion (7.2% of worldwide assets). Assets here decreased $12.9 billion, or 3.4%, in Q4, and were up $25.5 billion, or 7.5%, over one year. Luxembourg was in fifth place with $352.6B, or 7.0% of the total, down $2.0 billion in Q4 (-0.6%) and up $30.3B (9.4%) over 12 months.
Korea, the 6th ranked country, saw MMF assets decline $11.7 billion, or -11.9%, to $87.0 billion (1.7% of total) in Q4 and rise $7.0 billion (8.7%) for the year. Brazil remained in 7th place, increasing $6.9 billion, or 10.5%, to $72.1 billion (1.4% of total assets) in Q4. It increased $20.8 billion (40.5%) over the previous 12 months. (ICI's data no longer includes money fund figures for Australia, but they would rank as the sixth largest market at $322 billion, their level of two years ago, if they were still included. Australia's MMF assets were shifted into the "Other" category several quarters ago.)
ICI's statistics show Mexico in 8th place with $47.4B, or 0.9% of total, down $4.5B (-8.7%) in Q4 and down $6.3B (-11.7%) for the year. India was in 9th place, decreasing $889 million, or -1.9%, to $45.5 billion (0.9% of total assets) in Q4 and increasing $10.2 billion (29.1%) over the previous 12 months. Taiwan was in 10th place with $26.7 billion, or 0.5% of worldwide assets.
South Africa ($21.6B, up $203M and up $4.8B over the quarter and year, respectively), Chile ($19.7B, up $151M and up $2.2B),`Switzerland <b:>`_ ($18.3B, down $1.6B and down $923M), Canada ($18.2B, down $252M and down $42M) Sweden ($18.1B, down $1.0B and down $3.0B), and ranked 11th through 15th, respectively. United Kingdom, Spain, Norway, Poland and Germany round out the 20 largest countries with money market mutual funds. Chile moved ahead of Switzerland in the latest rankings.
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. Contact us if you'd like our latest "Largest Money Market Funds Markets Worldwide" spreadsheet, based on ICI's data, or if you'd like to see our MFI International product.
