Uncertainty over economic prospects and geopolitical events is continuing to discourage investors from committing new capital to funds and the extreme financial market volatility that also results from this uncertainty has its own deterrent effect.
Some of the key highlights from this month's FFI:
- The FFI rose to 53.2 in January, but the better figure masked underlying weakness in appetite for most asset classes
- Only mixed asset funds saw strong inflows; all other asset classes were neutral or negative
- Property and fixed income performed poorly
- Equity inflows were a touch above neutral, driven by appetite for global funds
- European funds saw heavy selling; UK equity funds were neutral for the month, but saw several days of outflows closely related to Brexit events
- Brexit has now driven £57bn of funds offshore