(Aug 11): Germany’s fund industry now oversees more than €5 trillion (RM23.62 trillion) for the first time, driven by appetite for exchange-traded funds.

Total assets under management across the sector rose €348 billion to €5.2 trillion during the first half of the year, the German trade association BVI said in a statement Tuesday. While rising market values accounted for much of the increase, ETF investments contributed a substantial chunk as well, attracting almost €40 billion in fresh money out of €74 billion in total net flows across the industry.

Total assets across all ETF classes were €585 billion, BVI said. Germany’s ETF market in total is estimated at about €800 billion, making it Europe’s largest, it said.

The boost to publicly traded funds is part of the growing appetite for equity ownership among German investors, who traditionally keep a large part of their money in savings accounts. Government initiatives, such as a pension reform that will introduce equity-oriented deposit accounts, are expected to further improve inflows for German asset managers.

Open property funds continued to experience outflows, with investors pulling €3.3 billion in the first six months of the year. A recovery in real estate markets remains elusive and several funds have had gated redemptions over the past few months.

Uploaded by Arion Yeow