Worldwide money market funds (MMFs) registered exceptionally high net inflows of €330bn, up from €253bn in Q3 2023, according to EFAMA's latest international quarterly statistical release for Q4 2023.

Thomas Tilley, Senior Economist at EFAMA, said “Worldwide money market funds (MMFs) saw record net inflows of almost EUR 1.4 trillion over 2023, with about EUR 1 trillion of these net inflows in the United States. Many US investors were attracted by the higher returns offered by MMFs compared to bank deposits.”

Highlights from the stats were:

• Net assets of worldwide investment funds increased by 4.2% in euro terms.
o The fourth quarter of 2023 saw an increase of 4.2% in net assets of worldwide investment funds to EUR 67 trillion. Measured in US dollar terms, net assets increased by 8.7% due to the depreciation of the US dollar vis-à-vis the euro.
o Measured in local currency, net assets in the two largest fund markets, the United States and Europe, increased by 8.7% and 4.8%, respectively.

• Net sales of long-term funds surged in the fourth quarter of 2023.
o Worldwide long-term funds attracted substantial net inflows (EUR 340 billion), compared to EUR 99 billion in Q3 2023. The United States and Asia-Pacific region recorded net sales of EUR 175 billion and EUR 120 billion, respectively, compared to EUR 32 billion in Europe.
o Equity funds registered robust net inflows (EUR 186 billion), up from EUR 62 billion in Q3 2023. The United States recorded the highest net sales (EUR 127 billion), compared to EUR 21 billion in China and EUR 18 billion in Japan. On the other hand, Europe continued to record net outflows (EUR 5 billion).
o Bond funds continued to attract net inflows of EUR 141 billion, up from EUR 99 billion in Q3. The bulk of net inflows were recorded in China (EUR 57 billion), the United States (EUR 50 billion) and Europe (EUR 35 billion).
o All regions experienced net outflows from multi-asset funds in Q4, albeit slightly less than in Q3 ( EUR 65 billion compared to EUR 87 billion). Europe recorded EUR 40 billion in net outflows, while Brazil and China also experienced negative net sales, EUR 14 billion and EUR 11 billion, respectively.

• Net sales of money market funds saw a substantial increase in most regions, except in the Asia-Pacific.
o Worldwide money market funds (MMFs) registered exceptionally high net inflows of EUR 330 billion, up from EUR 253 billion in Q3 2023.
o In the United States, MMFs continued to experience very strong net inflows (EUR 217 billion), up from EUR 206 billion in Q3 2023.
o In Europe, net inflows reached EUR 121 billion, mainly driven by Ireland (EUR 62 billion), Luxembourg (EUR 45 billion) and France (EUR 12 billion).
o Net sales of MMFs were negative in the Asia-Pacific region (EUR 17 billion), mainly due to net outflows from China (EUR 15 billion).