European assets under management increase by 71%; insurers with 25% share

Written by Adam Cadle

17/09/2019

Assets managed in Europe amounted to €23.1trn in 2018, an increase of 71% since end-2007, with insurance companies having a share of 25% of total European AUM, according to EFAMA.

In its An overview of the asset management industry report, EFAMA said strong asset growth stems from the strong performance of stocks and bonds, especially in the 2012-2017 period.

Five countries are managing more than 76% of the total AuM in Europe. The United Kingdom is the largest asset management market, followed by France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. EFAMA said this “high concentration reflects the size of these countries, their experience in financial services as well as the pool of savings they have accumulated over the years”.

At end 2017, bond assets accounted for 40% of investment portfolios managed by asset managers in Europe. Equity assets accounted for 32% of assets, while money market and cash equivalents represented 7% of assets. The remainder of the portfolio (22%) was made up of other assets.

“The predominance of fixed-income instruments reflects the fact that bonds are viewed as safe instruments for preserving capital and generating income, which was reinforced by the implementation of Solvency II regulatory constraints,” the report stated.

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