In March 2012, the volume of assets placed in the investment funds covered by the Swiss Funds Assiciation (SFA) climbed to around CHF648 billion, an increase of CHF1.4 billion month-on-month.

There were inflows of assets for bond funds (+CHF2 billion), products in the “other funds” category (+CHF0.5 billion) and equity funds (+ CHF0.4 billion).

As of the end of March 2012, the total volume of assets in the investment funds covered by the statistics compiled by Swiss Fund Data AG and Lipper stood at CHF647.1 billion, an increase of CHF1.4 billion month-on-month. Funds for institutional investors accounted for CHF241.0 billion of the total of just under CHF650 billion.

“Following the positive development in recent months, the fund market took a pause in March. One reason for this was the modest showing on the markets, which led to a certain reluctance to buy,” says Dr Matthäus Den Otter (pictured), CEO of the Swiss Funds Association SFA. By comparison, the figures for the major indices were as follows: Dow Jones +2.0%, S&P 500 +3.1%, and SMI +2.1%. The EUR lost 0.2% against the CHF, while in the case of the USD there was a drop of -0.3%.

Net inflows amounted to CHF2.1 billion in March 2012. Bond funds accounted for the lion’s share of this amount, and they make up a third of the overall market (market share: 33%). Money market funds came under pressure, and lost CHF1 billion. Market performance was modest, down CHF0.65 billion, with bond funds gaining CHF2 billion while products in the “other funds” category and equity funds fell back CHF1.2 billion and CHF1.3 billion respectively. There was little change among the fund categories, with Bond CHF(market share: 10.94%), Equity Global (6.53%), Equity Switzerland (5.92%), and Commodities (5.31%) still out in front.