Fund managers see slowdown in outflows

Greece?s money managers reported a slowdown in the value of net outflows from mutual funds in the first quarter, the Hellenic Fund and Asset Management Association said on Tuesday.

Outflows from Greek-managed mutual funds fell to 72 million euros in the three months to March 31 this year from 395 million euros in the fourth quarter of 2011, the Athens-based association said in an e-mailed statement.

The total value of UCITS mutual funds stood at 5.2 billion euros at the end of March, unchanged from the end of December last year, according to the statement.

UCITS (which is short for Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) is a regulated European fund format that allows managers to invest in derivatives, according to the European Commission?s website.

The total value of assets managed by the association?s 35 members, including real estate and closed-end funds, declined to 8.43 billion euros as of March 31 from 8.55 billion euros on December 31, the association said.

While most categories of mutual funds saw positive returns or no change to the value of their assets, funds with bonds and shares or funds with bonds alone fell, given their voluntary participation in the writedown by private investors of Greek government debt, according to the statement.

[Bloomberg]