Since back in the 1980s, the Bundesbank has been providing aggregated data for analyses of the scope and structure of the German investment fund industry.The ever-growing demand for reliable data on domestic funds bears testament to the major role played by this sector. With around €1.3 trillion in assets under management in November 2012, the investment fund industry is the third most important financial sector in Germany after monetary financial institutions and insurance corporations. 

The statistics on investment funds provide up-to-date information for examining the income and financial flows in the German economy and determining Germany’s cross-border capital links. They also deliver important indications on investment behaviour and on changes in investors’ risk appetite. Recently, the results of the investment fund statistics have been increasingly used for analysing the systemic financial market risks of the investment fund industry.

All investment companies and investment stock corporations within the meaning of the German Investment Act (Investmentgesetz) which are domiciled in Germany are required to report statistics on their investment funds. Every month, they provide the Bundesbank with detailed data on the composition of the assets held in more than 6,000 domestic investment funds. The Bundesbank focuses on collecting data about the securities held by the funds; these securities have been recorded individually since autumn 2009. The statistics thus allow comprehensive examinations to be carried out of the securities investments of German funds by security type (debt securities, shares, investment fund shares), issuer group (eg banks, insurers, non-financial corporations) and issuer country. The funds’ investment policies can also be analysed by investment focus (eg equity funds, bond funds, open-end real estate funds, funds of funds) and type of unit holder (funds open to the general public vs specialised funds). Moreover, data are provided on domestic exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

The available monthly statistics for investment funds date back to September 2009; they are published as time series on the Bundesbank’s homepage and in table format in the Statistical Supplement 2 (Capital market statistics). A brief summary of the domestic investment fund industry can also be found in a one-page factsheet (see Annex) which is updated monthly. All the Bundesbank’s publications on this topic can be found under the link "Further information".

For a detailed analysis of the German fund industry based on the investment fund statistics, please refer to the article entitled “Current developments in the mutual funds market: demand, structural changes and investor behaviour” in the Bundesbank’s Monthly Report for January 2013.