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Global funds dominate Taiwan’s offshore market

Global equity and fixed income funds, followed by US-focused products, together account for half of Taiwan's offshore mutual fund industry assets, according to data from the Securities Investment Trust and Consulting Association (Sitca).

Assets in global equity and fixed income funds, which Taiwan classifies as “hybrid market” funds (meaning products that invest in both developed and emerging markets), accounted for 34% of Taiwan’s NT$3.39trn ($111.9bn) offshore fund industry or products that are domiciled outside the country.

US-focused funds, which include both equity and fixed income, remain the most popular in the single country category. They accounted for 17% of total offshore assets. US products also saw the highest increase in assets in the category from the start of the year, up 18% to NT$591bn in August.

However, emerging market fund assets, both equity and fixed income, had the largest increase among all fund categories, doubling during the year. Flows were driven by emerging market bond funds, which rose 64% to NT$333.2bn.

On the flipside, the biggest decrease in assets came from Korea-focused funds, which declined by 32%.

In Taiwan, offshore funds are more popular than locally-domiciled funds, which had assets of TWD 2.3bn. In terms of the number of funds, there are 995 offshore funds and 784 onshore funds.

 

Taiwan’s offshore funds by investment destination (in NT$bn)

 

August 2017

January 2017

Market share

Change

Global funds

Developed markets

375.9

379.7

11%

-1.01%

Emerging markets

409.4

269.7

12%

51.76%

Hybrid markets

1161.8

1089.9

34%

6.60%

Global Subtotal

1,947.0

1739.4

57%

11.94%

Single Country funds

Japan

37.7

37.3

1%

1.07%

Korea

3.9

5.7

0%

-31.72%

Thailand

5.6

6.3

0%

-11.04%

Indonesia

6.8

6.5

0%

3.44%

India

40.4

45.1

1%

-10.35%

US

591.6

500.8

17%

18.11%

United Kingdom

0.7

0.6

0%

11.78%

Australia

3.8

4.0

0%

-5.35%

Russia

23.0

21.7

1%

5.64%

Other

13.8

14.8

0%

-7.23%

Single Country Subtotal

727.2

643.0

21%

13.09%

Regional  funds

North America

71.0

74.0

2%

-4.09%

Developed Europe

137.6

138.1

4%

-0.34%

Asia Pacific(Exclude Japan)

237.2

231.9

7%

2.32%

Asia Pacific(Include Japan)

33.2

32.9

1%

0.93%

New Zealand & Australia

0.3

0.4

0%

-13.68%

Emerging Europe

42.0

42.1

1%

-0.35%

Emerging Latin America

73.7

70.2

2%

4.95%

Other emerging markets

4.9

4.8

0%

2.52%

Mainland China & Hong Kong

98.9

100.8

3%

-1.90%

Others

14.7

12.1

0%

21.47%

Regional Subtotal

713.5

707.3

21%

0.89%

TOTAL

3,387.7

3,089.6

100%

9.65%

Source: Securities Investment Trust and Consulting Association . Categories include both equity and fixed income funds

 

Fixed income on top

In terms of asset classes, fixed income funds dominate the industry, accounting for half of total offshore assets, which compares to equity assets of around 37%. Among the fixed income fund category, high yield bond funds had the most assets.

Offshore funds by asset class (in TWD bn)

August 2017

January 2017

Market share

Change

Equity Fund

1,253.6

1,213.9

37.00%

3.27%

Bond fund

69.9

70.8

2.06%

-1.29%

High yield bond fund

995.0

960.2

29.37%

3.63%

Emerging market bond fund

333.2

203.1

9.83%

64.07%

Others

300.1

285.0

8.86%

5.30%

Fixed income fund Subtotal

1,698.1

1,519.0

50.13%

11.79%

Balance fund

400.6

321.2

11.83%

24.73%

Money market fund

31.5

31.6

0.93%

-0.33%

Fund of funds

0.0

0.0

0.00%

0.00%

Exchange traded fund

0.3

0.2

0.01%

16.14%

Others

3.6

3.6

0.11%

-1.11%

Total

3,387.7

3,089.6

100.00%

9.65%

Source: Securities Investment Trust and Consulting Association

 

Part of the Mark Allen Group.