For the full year 2016, global cross-border funds (products for sale in multiple jurisdictions) bled $7.1bn while funds domiciled in Hong Kong and Singapore had $1.2bn in net outflows, according to Morningstar data.
There are 61 funds domiciled in the SAR and the Lion City, and also 61 global cross-border funds, according to Morningstar data.
In total, the 122 Greater China funds had net outflows of $8.3bn during 2016.
The top five funds that saw the most net outflows is consistent with the broader data, with all of them being global cross-border funds.
The outflows were huge, with some accounting for more than half of the current fund size.
Highest net outflows – Greater China
| Fund name | Domicile | AUM | Net outflows | 3-yr annualised return |
| Fidelity China Focus | Luxembourg | $3.5bn | $1bn | 4.50% |
| Schroder ISF Hong Kong Equity | Luxembourg | $2.6bn | $841.3m | 0.33% |
| GAM Star China Equity | Ireland | $832.9m | $687.1m | -4.48% |
| Robeco Chinese Equities | Luxembourg | $307.4m | $618.7m | -1.22% |
| First State China Growth | Ireland | $3.7bn | $577m | -3.35% |
Source: Morningstar
On the flipside, four of the top five funds that had the highest net inflows during the year are domiciled in Hong Kong, with the JPMorgan SAR Hong Kong Fund attracting the most capital.
Highest net inflows – Greater China
| Fund name | Domicile | AUM | Net inflows | 3-yr annualised return |
| JPMorgan SAR Hong Kong | Hong Kong | $779.3m | $184.6m | -1.06% |
| BOC-P HK Equity Provident | Hong Kong | $1.3bn | $80.5m | 0.72% |
| Manulife GF Dragon Growth | Luxembourg | $204.5m | $59.4m | -0.98% |
| BEA Union Investment Greater China Growth | Hong Kong | $180.5m | $22.9m | -1.83% |
| Schroder China Equity Alpha | Hong Kong | $99.7m | $20.3m | 17.54% |
Source: Morningstar
Adding other Asian geographies — Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand — results in 203 Greater China funds available for sale.
But only two cross-border funds made it into the top 20 funds that saw net inflows, according to Morningstar data. The majority of those top 20 funds are domiciled in Taiwan (13 funds), followed by Hong Kong (5).
Taking the same sample of funds, 16 out of 20 funds that saw the biggest outflows are cross-border funds.
A closer look
Did allocation matter in attracting capital last year? A closer look reveals there are some sector weighting differences between the funds gaining and losing capital, according to data from FE Analytics.
Generally, the top five funds had higher exposure to financials sector than the bottom five.
However, broadly speaking, most funds had the majority of the portfolio allocated to either financials or telecom, media and technology (TMT) companies.
| Funds that saw biggest inflows | Top 3 sector weightings | Funds that saw biggest outflows | Top 3 sector weightings |
| JPMorgan SAR Hong Kong |
Financials (48.4%), TMT (13.4%), Industrials (9.1%) |
Fidelity China Focus | Financials (30.5%), Consumer Products (18%), Basic Materials (17.1%) |
| BOC-P HK Equity Provident |
Financials (50.1%), TMT (17.9%), Industrials (10.1%) |
Schroder ISF Hong Kong Equity | Financials (24.93%), TMT (18.68%), Consumer products (18.31%) |
| Manulife GF Dragon Growth | TMT (29.12%), Financials (23.09%), Consumer products (13.78%) | GAM Star China Equity | Financials (26.16%), Consumer products (20.99%), TMT (16.26%) |
| BEA Union Investment Greater China Growth | Financials (36.26%), TMT (24.39%), Consumer products (14.4%) | Robeco Chinese Equities | TMT (35.84%), Financials (22.1%), Consumer products (13.45%) |
| Schroder China Equity Alpha | TMT (23.23%), Industrials (15.07%), Financials (15.04%) | First State China Growth | Consumper products (32.1%), TMT (24%), Healthcare (14%) |
Source: FE Analytics
In terms of full year 2016 performance, the majority of funds had negative returns, with a few exceptions.
Top five funds with biggest net inflows
Top five funds with the biggest net outflows
