Clearstream Monthly report: Fund inflows recover as political instability eases

The funds industry is back on track, after quite some time of reduced inflows into UCITS and alternative investment funds (AIFs). Following the Brexit vote and the U.S. presidential election, financial markets witnessed marked volatility, resulting in reduced investment inflows. Flows have however picked up again against a backdrop of easing political instability, signs of economic recovery and new regulatory requirements leading to a growing need for transparency and efficiency in investment funds processing.

Centralised solutions, such as Clearstream's Vestima platform, support market participants' efforts to comply with new rules on risk mitigation and ease cross-border distribution of ETFs. A number of new customers have therefore migrated their Mutual and Hedge Funds as well as ETF portfolios to the company's infrastructure over the past months, among them Edmond de Rothschild (Suisse) S.A. and Vontobel. Compared to last year, Clearstream's business for Investment Funds Services has grown by 17 percent in terms of securities deposited and by 24 percent in number of transactions.

'There are some game-changing, even existential, issues facing the funds sector', says Deutsche Börse Group Executive Board Member and Clearstream Chairman Jeffrey Tessler, referring to looming macroeconomic and policy risks. 'The ECB now looks set to join the Fed in normalising policy after years of quantitative easing. What will an ECB 'taper' mean for currently elevated asset values? And will the new normality further intensify strong competitive and cost pressures on fund managers?,' asks Tessler.

These and other topics like the ambiguity between active and passive asset management will be elaborated during Clearstream's 2017 Annual Fund Summit on September 28th in Luxembourg. Once again, this event brings together many of the fund industry's thought leaders to discuss the latest trends and developments impacting the sector.

Agenda for Clearstream's 2017 Annual Fund Summit

To register, please send an email toevents@clearstream.com.

About Clearstream

As an international central securities depository (ICSD) headquartered in Luxembourg, Clearstream, part of Deutsche Börse Group, provides the post-trade infrastructure for the Eurobond market and services for securities from 56 domestic markets worldwide. As a central securities depository (CSD) based in Frankfurt, Clearstream also provides the post-trade infrastructure for the German securities industry offering access to a growing number of international markets. With 13 trillion Euros in assets under custody, Clearstream is one of the world's largest settlement and custody firms for domestic and international securities.