Romanians entrust 60m euros to mutual fund managers every month

Romanian mutual funds have swallowed over 3bn RON in the past year and reached 4.5bn RON net assets in late April, being ever closer to hit the 1% of GDP mark. The mutual fund industry ended April with net assets worth over 4.5bn RON (1.1bn euros), a new all-time peak, managing to attract over 245m RON from investors (60m euros), according to the statistical data provided by the Fund Managers’ Association (AAF). The number of investors reached 189,119, with a large part of them holding investments in monetary and bond funds, while less than a tenth are equity fund investors, according to AAF data. “Mutual funds have entered an upward path and are regaining lost ground. After the first billion euro in terms of assets was exceeded, the next psychological threshold for funds is their reaching 1% in GDP in terms of assets, a performance that can be achieved this year,” said Dragos Neacsu, chairman of Erste Asset Management, the biggest fund manager. Romania’s GDP ended last year at 491.27bn RON.